















; 






















































PKD- HomF: 

A. COMF^LEXE /aiz 

S't'd'i 

COOK-BOOK 

AND 





DV 


Marion Harland. 


■ N . V\ 




“ God help iis on the Common Days, 

The level stretches, white with dust!” 

Margaret E. vSangster. 


\Bitb ©pigir^al ^r^gpauirpgs, 


BY 


h. A. SHAFER, WALTER SATTERLEE, RUE & IIOELFFLER, B. G. GOODLINE, 
WILL PHILLIP HOOPER and F. L. V. HOPPIN. 


P. W. ZlEOLEK Sz Co. 

PHILADELPHIA, PA., AND ST. LOUIS, MO 

J. S. Ziegler & Co., Chicago. III. 

1889 



0 













/ 







Copyrighted by 

MARY VIRGINIA TERHUNE. 
1889.' ■ 





House and Home. 


CO N'T ENT'S. 

PAGE. 

The Housekeeper and the Home-Maker . . . ii 

Every House has a Keeper.—Exception.—Lowest Form of Human Living.—The 
Model Housekeeper.—Her Four Utensils.—Supererogatory Works of Cleanliness. 
^Is Her Life Worth Living?—Keeping House not Wisely, but Too Well.—The 
“ Nasty-Particular ” Housewife.—“ My House ” and “ Our Home.” 


If not Str.aw—Stubble.. 17 

The Esthetic Craze, and its Effects upon American Homes.—Respectable ” Specimens’ 
of Our Homes.—The Substantial Three-Story-Brick, and How it is Furnished.— 
Honest John’s Views on the Subject.—Husbandly and Wifely Conferences, 
anent Changes.—The Quiet-Eyed Woman who Loves Beauty.—Modern Manuals. 
—“ There is No Use Trying.”—The Back-Parlor.—Mortuary Memorial Mantel.— 
Fire-Place.—Mantel Shelves.—Book Shelves.—^Japanese Drapery and Family 
Portraits.—Reading-Table and Lamp.—Pillows, Cushions and afghan.—Resting- 
Place.—Curtains, Easels, and Palm.—The Old Arm-Chair.—T he PRESENCE.— 
Reconciliation of Carpet and Wall-Paper. — ‘‘Strengthen the Things that 
Remain.The Front-Room.—Hints Few and Feasible.—Live in Your Rooms. 


The Dining-Room, Meals and Serving . . . . 33 

Ingenious Architect’s Utopian Plan.—Why He Failed.—The Genteel Tank in which 
People Eat.—Disadvantage.—Make the Best of what is. —A Meal a Graceful 
Ceremony.—The Dumb Man’s Visible Thought.—Hard and Homely Lives.— 
The Discouraged House-Mother.—Baron Trenck’s Etched Pannikins.—Jane 
Welsh Carlyle.—‘‘ Waiting for a Rise.”—The Table.—Care of and Respect for 
Dainty Wares.—Living up to the Old Blue Teapot.—Decorous Serving and 
Waiting.—How ‘‘ Father ” Carves and Helps.—Major Trencher and Saucerlings. 
—College Sons and Society Girls.—‘‘Feeds” versus Dining.—Mothers over 
Fifty Years Old.—Too Late to Rectify Little Matters which are Not Trifles.—» 
Children as Waiters. — How to Waitand be Waited Upon.—Fear of Innovations.— 
John is—^JOHN ! 


I 














II 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


PAGE. 

Cottage Furnishing.4 ^ 

What is a “Cottage?”—Barbarism of White Paiut and Green Blinds.— Exscind 
“ Massive ” and “Rich.”—Hard-Wood Floors, and Painted Boards.—Sanitary 
Rugs and the Week’s Work.—Carpets.—Farmeress and Her “ Taypestry Brus¬ 
sels.”—Cheap Carpets a Blunder—English Ingrain.—Mattings-—Styles and 
Prices.—Shades and Curtains.—Straw Chairs.—Sets and “ Setts. ”—YouRSELF, 
Your Mark.—Books are Aristocrats.—Bamboo Settee and Cushions.—Domestic 
Upholstery.—Trunk Eounges.—Cheese-Box.—Covered Bath-Tub.—How to take 
off the Edges of the Strictly Useful.—Bed Coverings.—Table-Ware, Cheap and 
Pretty.—Extremes of Scantiness and Crowding.—Jumble of Ornaments.— 
Seasoning, to taste. 


Licensed Beggar, or Business Partner? ... 64 

Loveless Marriage, Legalized Crime.—Thoughtless Marriage, Sinful Folly.—Truest- 
Happiness Found in Marriage.—The Ideal Marriage.—Nice Every-Day, Pretty 
Well-Satisfied Couples.—The Great Majority of Couples.—A Good Thing that 
Might be Made Better.—The Great Stumbling Block. The Family Income.— 
The Scorpion-Lash that Drives Wives Mad.—John Has His Say.—Why a Woman 
Minds Asking for Money.— Wives Should not Mind Being Treated as Paupers, 
But they do. —An Ill-Favored Curling.-“Man the Bread Winner; Woman the 
Bread Eater.”—The Old, Old, Hateful Story.—“ Ole’ Marster an’ My Chillun.” 
—Mrs. A. and Her Dividends.—Charley’s Whim.—Mrs. B. and “the Sivinty- 
fiveCints.”—Mrs. C. and the Penciled Butcher’s Bill.—Mrs. D and How She 
Duped Her John.—Mrs. E- and Her Ethics.—A Forgetful Husband.—Mr. F’s 
Story.—No Shoes to Wear.—A Guild of Privileged Paupers.—Ask Them how 
They Like It.—Representative John to the Front.—“ Would You Have My Wife 
Earn Her Own Living ? ” Nine Times Over.—Flattening the Base of the Egg.— 
Solomon Grundy and His Query. 


The Etiquette of Family Life ..... 79 

Another Fellow’s Sister.—Grace Over the Whole Barrel.—Philemon Nemo and Bau¬ 
cis—Definition of Courtship.—“ Temporary Insanity.’’—Breakfast in the Nemo 
Household.—The Scalded Hand.—Then and Now.—Sentiment Dies Hard in 
Women.—Cup and Tumbler.—“ Brute ” and “Boor.”—Sketches from Life.—A 
Savage in Every Man.—Not a Trial Effort.—Model Daughter and Gray-haired 
Father.—Company and Every-Day Manners.—The Inference is Patent.—One of 
Two Things is Wrong.—The Responsibility of Wives in this Matter.—” Only My 
Wife.”—Baucis a Cipher.—The Husband Has Gone Out of the Business — 
Taking the Boys Down.—Seed of an Ugly Plant—The Toss-and-Tumbfe Style of 
Home Life—Crockery Platters and Garnished Porcelain—“We Understand Each 
Other.”—“Hallo, Old Girl!”—Pet Hedgehogs.—Human Pig-nuts.—Sincere 
and Sweet, and Sincere and Sour.—Hearts Won are Not Hearts Kept.—A Simple 
Rule of Action.—Rough Words and Smooth. 




CONTENTS. 


Ill 


The Vexed Question.—Domestic Service in America . 91 

English Journal and American Manual.—“Are there No Servants in the United 
States ? ’’—English “ Servantgalism ’’—Continental Pikes and Butcher-knives.— 
Iron and Clay.— Dien.—'^ I Serve.’’—An Obvious Truth.—" Girls.’’—" Her 
and She.’’—Daughter Robbed.—Mother Robbed and Shorn.—If no Servant, No 
Mistress.—Bridget, Katrine, and Victoria-Columbia-Celesle.—English Phillis 
and English Abigail.—Service as Truly a Trade as Millinery.—" IMiss ’’ Howard, 
Halyburton and Hamilton.—Ellen and the Country Aunt.—" Me Mother’s Sis¬ 
ter, Mem ! ’’—The Handicapped Mistress.—The Cross of "Diving Out.’’—Is the 
Situation Hopeless ?—Mrs. Whitney’s " May-be.’’ You Are the Firm.—Auditor 
and Junior Partner.—The Head the Only Indispensable Member of the Corpora¬ 
tion.—Belt and Wheel.—A Crying Need.—“ The Girl ’’ Holds the Winning Card. 
"A Stiff-Ticket.’’—Reference a la mode. —Margaret’s Tricks and Drawbacks.— 
A Cyclone in Calico .—k Treasure, But Dishonest.—Purblind and Virtuous 
Complacency.—Only Safe and Honorable Thing To Do.—Nine Cases Out of 
Ten.—Ten Cases Out of Ten.—Rule that Should Work Both Ways.—The Hard 
Mistress.—The “ Hard Place ’’ a Small Pox Placard—Curses to be Shunned for 
Others as for Ourselves.—A Word of Caution—A Paragon in Every Hireling Not 
To Be Expected. 


Why Monday ?.104 

"Not Customary, You Know!’’—Is Any Day Less Convenient?’’—Steam, Stress 
and General “Stew ’’ of Washing-Day.—Tommy Snooks and Betsey Brooks.— 
Abrupt Change From Day of Rest.—Blessed Calm of Sunday.—Monday Like a 
Cold Snap in Spring.—Peter and Paul.—Blue and Black Monday.—Warmed- 
overs. Pick-ups and Make-shifts.—Homeliness of Home —One Mother’s Pretty 
Device.—Astonishing Slowness of Apprehension and Narrowness of Mind.— 
What the Brave Lady of the Future Will Do.—Haunting Demon of Civilization. 
—Dirt. 


‘‘Lady”.112 

'^Loaf-Giver." — Lattice of Warwick; Elizabeth of Hungary; Katherine Parr; 
Lady Lothrop.—Definition of "Lady.’’—Meaningless Application.—General 
S- and the Washlady’s Husband.—The Boarding-Home and Sewing-Ma¬ 

chine.—Resolution of the Board of Management.—Refinement of Sarcasm—Ar¬ 
rogant Claim of Silly Illiteracy.—The Royal Name of Woman.—"Salesladies ; ’’ 
" Foreladies.’’—Ruskin’s Deliverance on this Subject.—Correspondent Title to 
"Lady’’ being "Lord.”—" Saleslords ; ” "Washlord.”—No " Below-stairs ” in 
a Republic.—Action, Not Condition, Makes the Noble Man or Woman.—Totter¬ 
ing on the Main Truck.—" Lady-Help Wanted.” 





IV 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


r.vGE. 

Mouse Or Rat ?.120 

Anecdotes Like Comets.—Madame and Monsieur.—Stubborn Effort to Set Other 
People Right.—Society By the Ears.—Little Foxes.—Story of Vulgar Fellow 
in His Carriage, and Gentleman Driving a Wagon. — Hard To Allow One’s 
Friends To Be Mistaken.—A Good Story.—My Neighbor’s Opinions.—Your 
Sister’s Carpet.—Musician and Mistaken Performer.—Restiveness of Reformer 
Under Criticism.—Web not of our Weaving, Nor For Our Wear.—Let Others 
Enjoy Their Opinions.—If They Annoy You, Get Away From Them ! 


Household Worries.126 

Woman’s Daily Life, One Part Work and Three Parts Worry ; A Man’s, One Part 
Worry and Three Parts Work.—Men Are Courageous, Women Patient.—“ Not 
My Way of Doing Business!”—Difference in Man’s and Woman’s Method.— 
Usually the Woman Has None.—Veteran Housekeepers and Printed Manuals.— 
‘‘No Particular Rule. ”—Administration and Execution. ‘‘ Keeps a Dog and Does 
His Own Barking. ”—Hands and Assistants.—Wife’s Agony of Self-Upbraiding.—• 
Husband’s Criticism.—The Large Establishment No Exception.—The Most 
Defenceless Class in the Community.—An Uneasy Ocean Casting.Up Mire and 
Dirt.—Household Worries Should Be Superficial.—Prince Henry.—Woman in 
Insane Asylum Polishing One Window-pane.—Type of Thousands. 


Visited.132 

Is Hospitality a Duty ?—Syllogism.—The Fisherman Apostle.—Latch-string super¬ 
seded by Spring-bolt and patent Key.—R. S. V. P. The quid pro quo of Receiving 
and Entertaining.—‘‘Quite one of The Family.”—Young Girls in Virginia 
Country House.—One Day’s Experience.—Flying One’s Own Colors.—The 
English Method of Giving Invitations.—Fashion of ‘‘At Home.”—What it 
Means.—Compliment, Not Slight.—Unconscious Impertinence of Coming 
‘‘Some Other Time.”—Fatuous Self-Conceit.—Too Much Ceremony.—Benev¬ 
olent Torture.—Definition of ‘‘a Bore.”—Talent of Entertaining Well.—Visitor 
of the Spongiest Type.—Roasted Hostess.—The Blessed Three.—A Misnomer.— 


Visitor .......... 142 

‘‘ Hospitate.”—Crust of the Loaf.—Tasteless Shell.—Successful Hosts depend upon 
Appreciative Guests.—Patronizing Visitor.—‘‘ Can’t you let me off this once ? ” 
Delicate Flattery.—One Guest, and His Exactions.—The Health-Bread of 
Another.—Mungo Park and Zulu Woman.—Too Late, and Too Early.—Piano at 
Dawn.—Do not Gossip of your Host.—Over-Praise is Patronage.—Exertion to 
be Agreeable. 




V 


CONTENTS. 

f 


PAGE. 

With Our Girus.153 


“ Heaven Help the Men.”—Requisites for Spinster, and for Wife.— "^Low Our 
Girl Speaks Her Mind.—Drift of Thistle-Down.—The Man who Knows No 
Better.—The Man who Means Well.—Free-and-Easy Youth.—Friendship 
Between the Sexes.—Missionary Work. 


Our Voices.j6o 

Pompeiian Guide upon American Voices.—Bayard Taylor’s Definition.—‘‘National 
Catarrh.”—Indignant Divine.—Statesman and Kinsman.—Cause and Possible 
Cure.—Loudness of Tone.—‘‘Sweet-faced and Shrill-voiced.”—‘‘Peacocks’ 
Gala-Day.—Family Party at Delmonico’s.—Quality and Key of Voice.—Use of 
Soft Pedal and Legato Movement.—Heredity.—Ben Jonson and John Sylvester. 


How We Speak.167 

Common Sense and Sad Experience.—Go Astray as Soon as Born, Speaking Double 
Negatives.—A ‘‘ Real Lady.”—Magnificent Woman and Her Speech.—Persistent 
Mangling of Vernacular.—A Mystery.—Self-Made Man and Murdered English. 

—Diamonds Set by Blacksmith.—An Anomaly.—People Who-! A D. D., 

F. F. V.—When the Foible becomes Guilt.—No Excuse.—Impossible to Speak 
Too Well.—What We Owe to Our Mother Tongue, and to Ourselves. 


The Candy Curse.173 

Candy-Eating Babies.—The Family Sweet Tooth.—Pound a Week.—‘‘Sweeties” 
Follow Civilization.—Literary Club and Candy.—Girl of Fourteen and Her 
‘‘ Bedside Comforter.”—Sugar as an Exclusive Article of Diet.—Dr. Edson’s 
Analysis of Poisonous Candy.—Natural Taste for Sweets, A Feminine Vice. 


With Our Boys.178 

william Wirt.—‘‘Small, Sweet Courtesies of Life”—Gentleman of the Old School. 
—‘‘To Herd.”—Etiquette of Men’s Hats.—Our Boys, and Graceful Ways.— 
Cheap and Eas}%—Undue Familiarity of Speech Leads to Freedom of Touch.— 
Bovine Gambols.—‘‘Honored Madam.”—Womankind, and Respect due Them 
—As Such. 





VI 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


PAGE 

Our Boy and Our Boy’s Father .... 185 

Anecdote of Boston Clergyman and Deacon.—“The Only Way to Cure Your Boy !’’ 
—Girls like Hop-Vines, are Brought Up.—Boys Grow Up.—Dick’s Evenings at 
Home.—Bumptiousness and What It Means.—Dutch Justice.—“ Mothers some¬ 
how make Allowances for Everything.’’—“ Out Again ? ’’—The Mother’s Reply. 
—Other Words. 


Literary Life of the Household . . . . 193 

Some Households have None.—Representative Middle-Class Families.—Definition 
of “Literary.”—Home-Education to School Children.—Rising Man without 
Early Advantages.—Above the Mud.—Business Man and The Newspaper.— 
“Fooling over Books.”—Silas Lapham.—“No Time to Read.”—No Higher 
Mission than the Mothers.—The Mother’s Duty.—The Woman who Will Read. 
—“ Life Without Letters.’’ 


Women as Mothers ...... 202 

“ Reasons why Women should not Vote.”—The House-that-Jack-built.—A Mystery. 
—Society Girl.—The Young Wife.—Chronically-fatigued.—No Training for 
Maternal Office. — The First Baby.—Margaret Fuller’s Cry. — Unique of 
Motherhood. 


Our Baby.208 

Queen.—Mother Nature.—Pair of New Mothers.—All the Difference in the World.— 
The Wonderful Baby.—Elsie Venner and “Rose-Bud.”—Husband’s Work and 
The Wife’s.—Living Over Our Own Lives Again.—Plaint over the First-Born. 
—This Life Worth Living. 


V.AGARIES OF THE AMERICAN KiTCHEN . . » . 215 

“Twenty-Seven Religions and One Gravy.”—Our Housewife’s Warm, Substantial 
Breakfast.—Boiled Tea.—“ Some Substance into It.”—Grilled Leather-and-Fat. 
—Soup and Slops.—Family Pastry.—Fat and Frying-Pan.—Drained Dishes and 
Undrained Vegetables.—Burnt Toast. Jamestown Tower and Plymouth Rock. 
—Sooty Idol.—Hope for the National Cuisine. 





CONTENTS. 


VII 


* 


PAGE. 

Breakfast as it Should Be.223 

Our Movable Feasts.—^Jones, Mechanic.—Melchius Jones, Esq., Manufacturer and 
Millionaire.—Continental Breakfast.—Why We do not Adopt It .—Paterfamilias 
utters His Mind.—Goblin Care at Early Morning.—Father at Breakfast Behind 
Newspaper.—Like Spavined Horses.—Bill-of-Fare, and How to Eat Breakfast. 
—Christianizing Influence of Breakfast-Table. 


The Tea Table.231 

Yorkshire Tea, Eighty Years Ago.—Our Big and Varied Teas.—Supper.—An Over¬ 
grown Caricature.—Family Tea versus “Spread.”—Dry, Cold and Cheerless 
Evening Meal.—Something Better.—“ Our Best China and Sunday Nights.”— 
Supper-Rolls and Wifely Devotion.—Omelette, rather than Rose-bud.—Means 
of Grace and Beauty. 

What Our Children Eat. 239 

Dr. Fothergill upon Food for the Nursery.—“With Impunity.”—Two-Year-Old 
Baby and Wind-fall Pears.—Whey-faced Three-Year-Old.—Bobby’s Breakfast, 
Dinner and Supper.—Why the Trial-Balance does not come out Right.— 
Heredity ? Our British Cousins.—American Lad upon Diet of Princes.—Bobby’s 
Baby-Brother. 

Introduction to Menus. 245 


Spring Bills of Fare.247 

125 Recipes Arranged in Bills of Fare for Breakfast, Luncheon and Dinner. 


Summer Bills of Fare.321 

125 Recipes Arranged in Bills of Fare for Breakfast, Luncheon and Dinner. 


Autumn Bills of Fare.• • 3^9 

125 Recipes Arranged in Bills of Fare for Breakfast, Luncheon and Dinner. 


Thanksgiving Dinner . 443 


Winter Bills of Fare. 449 

125 Recipes Arranged in Bills of Fare for Breakfast, Luncheon and Dinner. 


Christmas Dinner . 


500 


















No. 

I. 

No. 

2. 

No. 

3- 

No. 

4 . 

No. 

5- 

No. 

6. 

No. 

7- 

No. 

8. 

No. 

9- 

No. 

10. 

No. 

II. 

No. 

12. 

No. 

13- 

No. 


No. 

15- 

No. 

16. 

No. 

17- 

No. 

18. 

No. 

19- 

No. 

20. 

No. 

21. 

No. 

22. 

No. 

23- 

No. 

24 . 

No. 

25- 

No. 

26. 

No. 

27. 

No. 

28. 

No. 

29 

No. 

30 - 


Illustrations. 

PAGE. 

Portrait of Marion Harland. .... .... Frontispiece. 

Withdrawing-Room. ........... 23 

Family Sitting-Room. ........... 27 

Reception-Room. ..32 

Waiting for a “Rise.” ........... 38 

Every-Day Service. 45 

Sunnybank. Marion Harland’s Summer Cottage. 50 

“ I wanted you should see my new carpet! ”....... 55 

Cottage Bed-Room. ........... 60 

The Forgetful Husband. 7 ^ 

Another Fellow’s Sister. ”. 77 

“ A Fellows own Sister.”. 77 

Wooing. 86 

Won. 86 

“ Me mother’s sister, ma’am! ” 95 

Tommy Snooks and Betsey Brooks,—Sunday. .... . . 106 

Tommy Snooks and Betsey Brooks.—Monday. ...... 106 

“ I been hear that a wash-lady named Mrs. Johnsing had some clo’es to 

bring home for a ’oman named S-. ”. . . . . .114 

“ Made too much at Home. ” .......... I 35 

Finical Visitor. 146 

True courtesy.. I 49 

The free-and-easy youth.^5^ 

Gentleman of the Old School. ......... i 79 

Our Boy and Our Boy’s Father..190 

The Woman who will Read. ......... ^99 

Mother and Baby. .......... . • 205 

Our Baby.. 

The American Housewife’s Crest. . . . . • . • • .217 

Our American Citizen at Breakfast.228 

Our Sabbath-Day Tea..235 


IX 






























The Housekeeper and the Home-Maker. 


5 HE country is full of housekeepers. Some are better than 
their fellows ; some are worse. Every house in which 
fires are made, meals cooked and served, and people sleep, 
must have a keeper. 

The only exception to this rule that has ever come under my 
personal observation was a certain old homestead tenanted by three 
sisters, a widow and two maiden ladies, with their bachelor brother. 
It was at the South in ante bellimi days, and slaves lived in the 
kitchen and quarters. These cooked food by the quantity, when 
convenient, and deposited it in pantries and cellar. There were no 
fixed hours for going to bed or getting up, and no table was ever 
set. When sister or brother was hungry, she or he repaired to 
the cupboard, or foraged in the cellar and ate whatever came to 
hand. Sw^eeping, dusting and scrubbing were spasmodic and very 
occasional events. Sometimes, the beds were not made for 
several days, and it was not an infrequent occurrence for none of 
the white family to rise all day long, except to seek food. As they 
all were omnivorous readers, and even students, the story prevailed 
in the neighborhood that much learning had made them partially 
mad, and, although all lay down to sleep long ago in the bed 
that needs no re-making, and the old house was burned shortly 














12 


HOUSE AND HOxME. 


after the death of the last member of the queer quartette, the 
tradition of their eccentricities is still a county tale. 

An overwhelming majority of the tenements built for human 
residence are kept after one fashion or another by women, and 
most of them are kept fairly well. That is, the inmates are 
clothed and fed decently and do not suffer unreasonably from cold 
and heat; the forms of cleaning and keeping clean are observed, 
and a few of the laws of health. The same may be said, with 
trifling variations, of an ant-hill or mole-burrow. The lowest form of 
human livmg is accomplished by her who is a Model Housekeeper— 
and nothing more. The interior of a bee-hive, a wasp’s or hornet’s 
nest better accomplishes the ends at which she aims,—perfection 
of neatness, order, and systematic w^orking. 

We all know The Model Housekeeper. She lives next door 
to some of us. We could wish her further for good reasons of our 
own. Besides being a descendant in the direct line of him who 
thanked God he was not as other men were, herself, her house 
and her ways are a continual discouragement to us. She is in no 
other sense than the accident of contiguity, what Mrs, Whitney 
calls our “ Next. ” Her very door-knobs reproach us by their 
sparkle; her chairs never huddle together in the middle of the 
room, and a microscope could find not a grain of dust iu the 
joints, or in the sharpest turn of the carvings. She dusts her 
ROOMS (pronounced in capitals) wdth her own hands, using, she 
tells you. Four Utensils for the purpose. No conscientious house¬ 
keeper cau dust properly with less. No. i, a wicker paddle 
that beats out the dust, without injury to plush or silk upholstery; 
No 2 , a pointed brush for boring into crevices and corners ; No. 
3, a fluffy bunch of feathers with which the dust is dislodged; 
No. 4, a soft cheese-cloth duster for wiping it off. This last is 
washed and dried every morning “ and generally ironed. ” She 


THE HOUSEKEEPER AND THE HOME-MAKER. 13 

has a way of announcing these supererogatory works of cleanliness 
that is a hot knitting needle in your guilty soul. When she tells 
you that every picture in her house is wiped off with a cloth 
every day except Sunday, and, once a week, taken down, that the 
back and cords and hooks may be carefully dusted; that she 
could not reconcile it to her conscience if all the plated and brass 
rings and handles upon her premises were not polished twice a 
week, and all the silver looked after every day; that every dish- 
towel and wash-cloth is inspected by her delicate fingers and 
nose daily, and that every closet passes under the same; that she 
could go at midnight to any drawer in any room of her house, 
and find without a light any article named; that she carries 
her lists of linen, china and glass “ in her head, ” and defies 
any careless or dishonest “ girl ” to embezzle or fracture with¬ 
out speedy discovery, your heart, like Nabal’s, dies within you, 
and you become as a stone for despairing impotency. 

“ I don’t see how you find time for it all! ” said a disheartened 
friend to The Model Housekeeper. 

“ By not wasting a minute, and by giving my whole time to 
my work! ” rejoined The Model, glancing severely at a magazine 
laid upon the other’s work-basket. “In My Opinion, domestic 
duties should have the first place in a woman’s thoughts. ” 

She was right. The only loop-hole of escape from her con¬ 
demning sentence opens in the question: “ What are domestic 
duties?” 

“Have you read, ‘Is Life Worth Living?”’ asked a rosy- 
cheeked girl of a pale one in my presence. 

“ No, but I can answer the question. It is not worth living 
in our house. We are professional house-cleaners,—only we have 
no rest between seasons. When I get married I mean to revel in 
dust and disorder,—at least until the honeymoon is over.” 


14 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Taking the liberty an old acquaintance might claim, of 
remarking upon the shining purity and absolute order of a 
country-house to the daughter of the hostess, I was shocked at the 
dark look that came over a young face which I had noted as weary 
to haggardness, She followed me to my room that night. 

“Please don’t praise my mother’s housekeeping again!” 
she said bitterly. “ Ours is the cleanest house in the township, 
but we pay well for it. It has driven my brothers from home 
to find comfort in disreputable haunts, It is driving me into my 
grave 1 

That Model Housekeeper has now no drawback to the fulfill¬ 
ment of her “ domestic duties.” The boys will never again leave 
dusty footprints upon her polished floors, or wear a track down the 
middle of her stair-carpet when she has warned them a dozen times 
to go up one side and down the other. The daughter who once 
declared she would not know her own photograph unless it had a 
duster in its hand, no longer interferes with her parent’s perfectly 
laid plans. There will be, in the days to come, no marks of grand- 
babies’ fingers upon the mirrors and plate-glass windows. 

Some of the most careless housekeepers I have ever known were 
born and brought up in the “ cleanest houses in the township.” 
The apprenticeship wrought out the determination to have 
homes of their own, and in the attempt, they strayed into the 
opposite extreme of negligence of everything but so-called “comfort.” 

It is possible to keep a house not wisely, but too well. She, whom 
those who appreciate this stigmatize as the “ nasty-particular ” 
house-wife, falls into selfish bigotry that swallows up consideration 
for other people’s taste and convenience. Recipes for cookery and 
methods of work, and observance of times and seasons are formu¬ 
lated into an iron-clad routine stamped as “ my way. ” Intelligent 
system has elasticity when the pressure is removed. The oft- 


THE HOUSEKEEPER AND THE HOME-MAKER. 15 


quoted my way of our Model Housekeeper requires a dynamite 
blast to stir it, and the fragments are dangerous. 

• No sensible person complains of a woman’s love for, and pride 
in her Home. Such love and pride ennobles her. It is when she 
binds thought, strength and sentiment down to slavish toil, over and 
beyond the obligation to keep her house clean, comfortable and 
tasteful, that she comes short of the queenly ofhce of Home-Maker. 
For, be it distinctly comprehended, our “ nasty-particular ” house¬ 
wife does not slave herself and daughters to death for others’ good. 
Husband and children would live as happily, die as peacefully and 
go to heaven as surely if the picture-cords and hooks were left 
undusted for six weeks at a time. It is but decent and wholesome 
to wipe the dust from tables and chairs, but one’s spiritual status 
should not depend upon the daily use of the Four Utensils. An 
overlooked cobweb in the garret is a minor violation of the duty 
owed to God and man by comparison with rusted sympathies and 
Pharisaical condemnation of the publican woman who, standing 
afar off in the court littered with toys and books, her happy, 
boisterous children clinging to her skirts and climbing into her 
loving arms,—durst not lift up so much as her eyes toward the 
speckless abode ruled over by her sneering censor. Housekeepers 
may be hired. Home-Makers are won by no wages except love. 

The Housekeeper says “ My house,” pridefully, arrogantly— 
sometimes, when her subjects are “ difficult ”—defiantly. 

The Home-Maker talks with tender humility of “ Our Home ” 
—recognizing within the material structure, the building not made 
with hands, eternal in the hearts of those who have borne, each a 
share, in rearing and beautifying it. 

If, in this, the last volume upon strictly domestic topics I shall 
give to the public for several years, I can lead my sister women 
to a higher plane of home-life and home-duties than they now 


i6 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


occupy, I shall feel that the mission to which I devoutly believe 
myself to be called, viz.: that of dignifying the so-called common¬ 
placeness of housewifely and maternal duties,—has been carried 
forward a generous step toward a glorious fulfillment. 



f ' 






If Not Straw-Stubble. 

¥ ¥ M HILE there is scarcely a township or country neighborhood 

I I I in the United States that has not felt, in some measure, 
the quickening of interest and endeavor in what is loosely 
termed “Household Decoration,^’ there are thousands of 
homes that have undergone no visible change in consequence of 
it. With an inconsiderable minority of these, this is the result of 
indifference. The owners and tenants stand still upon one and a 
narrow platform. What was good enough for the fathers and 
mothers should satisfy the sons and daughters. Or, in honest 
contempt of aesthetic trumpery and distrust of innovations that 
menace what habit has made to be solid comfort for them, they 
set granite faces against the violent removal of ancient hall-marks 
of taste or usage. * 

These idios3mcrasies may account for perhaps one in forty of 
the commonplace, unattractive homes inhabited by fairly-educated 
native Americans. How well we all know such abodes ! They are 
melancholy enough in the country, but that interior is not entirely 
uninteresting from which open doors and windows give views of 
curving hills and winding streams, billowy forest and draping 
vines. That rural housefitters and keepers do not draw in appre¬ 
ciation of the laws of beauty at the pores is one of the anomalies 

17 





i8 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


of civilization. In the city we have rows, blocks, streetsfull of 
“ specimens ”—ugly, uncompromising, hopeless, in the desolation 
of respectability. Buildings that were thoroughly and substan¬ 
tially furnished when the proprietors went to housekeeping, usually 
by the wife’s parents, or when the thrifty owner recognized the 
fact of substantial citizenship by buying and fitting up (substan¬ 
tially) No. lo of the substantial three-story brick block in a healthy 
and eligible location. He settled within the stanch walls (24 feet 
front in the clear), with the intention of passing the rest of his 
days there, and dying in the nest he had builded. To him the 
glaring efflorescence of the body-Brussels, the square piano, cov¬ 
ered by a green cloth embroidered in yellow silks, the crimson reps 
upholstery, faded into lurid dinginess, of the pair of sofas, the 
pair of marble-topped tables, the dozen chairs to match the sofas, 
the what-not—all in solid black walnut—the pair of portraits of 
self and wife, the pair of oil-color landscapes bought at an auction 
to fill two vacant spaces on the wall, the gilded clock and pair of 
white-and-gilt vases on the mantel, the gilded chandeliers and cut- 
glass globes, are, one and all, so entirely and altogether “ the gen¬ 
teel thing,” that the thought of change never approaches his 
imagination. If he notices that other parlors are furnished differ¬ 
ently, he draws a comparison in favor of his, as the lover of plain 
roast and boiled repudiates entrees and garnishes. 

Honest John is consistent so far as his lights go. He craves 
no different disposition of the furniture of office or counting room, 
sits in the same chair, and writes at the same desk he used thirty 
years ago. The best men comprehend so imperfectly what her 
house is to a woman, that nobody thinks of addressing domestic 
talk to them. It is from no want of love for his wife and desire to 
please his daughters, that the wine of John’s contentment settles 
upon its lees, and, when shaken, grows muddy. 



IF NOT STRAW—STUBBLE. 


19 


I wonder, sometimes, if husband and wife ever talk a thing out 
as two men, and (more rarely) as two women do. The realm of 
feeling lies with them so dangerously near that of sense that the 
wife is almost certain to pass the frontier before the conference 
has lasted five minutes. If she could but once drill into his 
mind, by the regulation argument, the truth that what business 
methods, business profits, business reputation are to him, house¬ 
keeping and home-making are to her, her point would be gained, 
and forever. Failing this, she flies into the face of his prejudices 
and runs the house to suit herself, or accomplishes changes strat¬ 
egically. If she is too pacific for one course, too upright for the 
other, things remain as they were from the beginning. 

Sometimes,—and this is the posture of affairs we assume in 
the present paper—honest John is amiably indifferent as to the 
appointments of the edifice in which he takes his meals and sleeps, 
provided he is well fed and lodged, and “ Mother’s ” whimsies do not 
involve a hard pull upon his pocket. She is welcome to make 
the furniture dance all over the house if she goes in for that sort 
of amusement, but he will not pay the piper if his bill is heavy. 

Our house-wife perceives a certain reasonableness in his objec¬ 
tions. Still, having eyes, she sees; having intellect and taste, 
she learns. If she has not kept pace with the march of improve¬ 
ment, she is not so far behind as to lose the echo of her flying foot¬ 
steps. She knows as well as do you, aesthetic and wondering visitor, 
that reps and hair-cloth were never pretty, and have now gone 
out completely. The sprawling garlands of thebody-Brussels, the 
pairs of everything else may offend your eye. They are a grief 
of soul to her. She “just hates ” the lambrequins overhanging 
the Holland shades,—one large scollop in the middle, a small scollop 
on each side, a tassel dependent from the plumb center of the 
middle and biggest bulge. In sheer desperation she is sometimes 


20 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


tempted to throw the dozen chairs frantically at the piano that has 
stood in the same place for seventeen years. She loves beauty,— 
does this quiet-eyed woman—and would express love and longing 
by visible signs if she had the means with which to do it. 

Casting about for these as a vine sends out filaments, she has 
fastened upon sundry charmingly-written manuals for house¬ 
furnishing and woman’s part in the same, and has been sunk into 
foggier depths. What is it to her that carv^ed wood mantels, with 
beveled mirrors at the back, tiers of shelves at the sides and painted 
tiles below, display treasures of bric-a-brac and ceramic art? 
That a “ crimson carpet of very small pattern, in two or three soft 
shades is very pretty, particularly if the paper be pale pink or 
cream-color with corner lines of crimson in it ? ” That “ with this 
carpet, the furniture-covering should be ashes of roses, ornamented 
with crimson fringe, the sofas of divan shape, well stuffed, with 
no wood-work visible ? ” With augmented anguish of despair, she 
reads, that “ a portiere of pale resedas serge, bordered with brown 
velvet, has a deep dado of the same velvet, and is embroidered 
in crewels with reeds, grasses and pale-hued swamp-flow^ers 
springing from the dado.” * 

“ As when a hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth ; 
but he awaketh, and his soul is empty.” 

The appointments of her pair of parlors are incontrovertible 
facts of which she cannot get rid,—ugly, inharmonious, irretriev¬ 
able, but hers and /ie 7 'e. Carpets, wall-paper, solid furniture, 
chosen, like Mrs. Primrose’s wedding-gown, for qualities that will 
wear, are more odious for the dreams of beauty evoked by the 
reading from which we have quoted. 

It was characteristic of Israelitish thrift that, some of the 
captives who were ordered to furnish the tale of bricks w^hen straw 


• Literal quotation. 


IF NOT STRAW—STUBBLE. 


21 


was withheld, betook themselves to reaped fields to gather stubble 
as a substitute. Their example may revive the courage of the 
housewife who has made up her mind that “ there is no use 
trying ” to alter the aspects of her surroundings. 

We will begin, if you please, with the back parlor. As a key¬ 
note, drop from your mental vocabulary that misused word “ parlor.” 
To yourself, speak of both apartments as drawing-rooms; of the 
inner, as a “ withdrawing room.” Pull out the flat, severe summer 
front and make a hearth for the room by inserting a grate, or 
■arrange, if you dare, the very much better fire-place for burning 
wood. If you can lay hold of a pair of old brass andirons, you 
have a prize. But neat, and not expensive ones can be bought of a 
hardware merchant. The chimney may be shallow, but it will 
probably “ draw ” well. At any rate, try the experiment of kind¬ 
ling a fire within it. Set a fender in front of it, and before that a 
rug. Avoid imitations of Turkish or Persian mannfactures. If 
you cannot pay from eighteen to thirty dollars for a small, genuine 
article, choose one from Lowell looms, small of figure, modest in 
hue. If you can afford neither, just now—wait. The looking 
forward to better and better things is one of the many privileges 
people of moderate means enjoy above those who can buy whatever 
they want, whenever they like. 

Ask John boldly if he will let you have the Mortuary Memorial 
Mantels painted to match the wood work of the room. If the latter 
is white, let the marble be ebonized. Should he object decidedly 
(as he probably will) to “ have so handsome an article ruined,” do 
your best to hide it, or to shade the white stare at that side of the 
apartment. Have a board made of the size and shape of the mantel¬ 
shelf and cover it yourself with felt (two yards wide, $1.37 per yard). 
Select the color advisedly, consulting the fixed conditions of your 
field. It is almost certain that the present complexion will need 


22 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


toning down. To this end, you will choose olive or old’ gold, or 
gold-brown, or some other of the soft subduednesses dear to the 
eye of artists. Tack along the outer edge, with brass-headed 
nails, a felt lambrequin, trimmed with plush of a warmer and good 
contrasting color, with long scarf-like ends to conceal the upright 
shafts which are the ghastliest part of the construction. At the back 
of the mantel set three shelves, shorter than the felt-covered board 
by a foot. A carpenter will make them for ^-ou of hard wood, 
red cherry, ash or walnut, at one-third of a cabinet-maker’s prices. 
Ebonized pine is cheap and not bad. Behind them tack velveteen 
of only fair quality, in color matching the plush trimmings of 
the lambrequins, to throw into relief the mantel arrangements. 
Let these be simple in form, and not crowded as to room. Bits 
of old china, Japanese jars, loose photographs, an odd-shaped bird’s 
nest pinned against the velveteen; on the uppermost shelf a good 
plaster bust, and a slender vase with one, or at most two peacock 
feathers drooping towards the bust — set on such trifles as these 
as irregularly as possible, nothing balancing anything else, and no 
one prominent object exactly in the middle of the shelf. One of 
your objects is to break up the pairing system. 

Taking the fire-place as the heart of the design, we will humor 
the fancy by considering the draping, shelves, fender and rug as 
the pericardium, and work outward. Direct your carpenter to make 
breast-high shelves, five or six in number, for the recess on each 
side of the chimney, tack notched morocco two inches deep,— dark 
green, red or leather-colored — on the edges of the shelves with 
brass-headed nails; cover the topmost shelf with felt like that on 
the mantel, and fill all with the family library. The top gives 
standing-room for easeled photographs, statuettes, ink-stand, port¬ 
folios and the like. Famil}^ portraits are less out of taste in a 
library or living room than in a place where you receive general 




PTHD1-^/\'/V 11^G 


























































































































IF NOT STRAW—STUBBLE. 


25 


visitors, therefore, bring your’s and John’s in here, and hang above 
the book shelves. A loose fold of Japanese drapery (60 cents a 
yard) cast over a corner of the gilt frame will dignify a common 
pictnre, and bring out the best points of a good one. Break up 
sharp rectangles by such ingenious devices whenever yon can do it 
without artistic affectations. 

Now for the table with the horizontal slab, inviting obituary 
record of the death by slow torture of the twins. Comfort and 
Elegance. In a front parlor a center-table is a solecism. There 
is no reason why it should stand under the chandelier, since 
nobody ever sits there to read or write, and every reason why it 
should be wheeled to one side, or a corner of the apartment, to be 
out of the way of the entering or retiring guests. But in our with- 
drawing-room, it symbolizes family concentration, conference, cheer. 
Cover it with a cloth that will hang low on every side. Should 
yon have to make one, let it be of felt like that you have already 
used, with a band of the contrasting plush set on about six inches 
above the edge. I hope yon have a reading lamp. There is one 
in nearly every house now-a-days. Hang on the porcelain or glass 
shade a banner screen, or a tissue-paper rose or sunflower, to shield 
the eyes of worker and reader, and set the lamp invitingly nearer 
one side of the table than the other, where it will mean something. 
In the middle it is almost expressionless. Scatter around it books 
that are readable and have been read. The used covers invite the 
handling of other fingers. A work basket, a glimpse of bright 
crewels at the mouth of a pretty work bag, a bit of incomplete 
embroidery, are suggestive, and help to individualize your terri¬ 
tory. If practicable, have the piano in here, too, at the back of the 
room opposite the fire, and open it in the evenings. Send four or 
five of the solid first inhabitants in reps and walnut into the other 
room to fill the place vacated by the instrument, and substitute 


26 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


for them three lacquered reception chairs and a straw chair or two. 
You can buy these last for three dollars apiece; ebonize or stain 
them brown yourself—any paint store will furnish the bottles of 
staining liquid. Tie into the seats cushions of gayly colored 
stuff; make a much bigger cushion of a confiscated pillow, cover 
with a stouter fabric—a remnant of momie cloth or turcoman— 
and lay it on the comer of the rug. Throw an afghan or shawl, 
the larger the better, over the arm of the sofa, and pull it away 
from the wall at the further end in recognition of the fire-place. 
The drooping fringes of the wrap will go far toward correcting the 
obdurate expression of the behemoth. Perhaps no one will throw 
himself there to rest while his wife reads aloud b}^ the evening 
lamp, or his daughter draws lulling music from the piano ; but the 
altered angle of the sofa, the waiting afghan, lend a touch of 
human interest to the arrangement. 

Hang scrim or madras curtains under the lambrequins and 
over the linen shades of the windows ; a felt portiere with a broad 
plush band, eighteen inches from the bottom, from pole and rings 
in the folding doorway. Or, this may be of momie cloth, serge, 
or some other of the many cheap and effective stuffs sold for such 
purposes. Buy a bamboo easel for $5, or show the carpenter how 
to make one of pine, and have it ebonized, with lines of gilt or 
scarlet relieving the black. This will cost about $3.50. Excellent 
reproductions of fine engravings by the heliotype and autotype 
processes are sold for from fifty cents to one dollar apiece, and can 
’be simply framed for another dollar. Send to an art-store for a 
catalogue, and select one or more to fill the easel. A palm in 
the latticed flower pot in the back window most remote from 
the fire, a box of ivy in the comer, are points of cheer in winter 
time. If yon can re-cover an old arm chair that belonged to your 
grandmother, and turn it socially inward toward the table, yon 

























































































































{V , 




r 

» . * * . 


' *-- * ■ 


• • 







r 







* 


••f 


-i 



iC- 




1 

^ 1 



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r' 



^-•. ; 

^ ■'jSf. - 




I 

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- • a ■ *■ * * 

’ «-vKiC ^^3 ■ 







IF NOT STRAW—STUBBLE. 


29 

will need little beyond what we have enumerated to make yoiir with¬ 
drawing room worthy of the name. 

Having furnished it, live in it. The cost of the additions I 
have sketched may be covered by perhaps fifty dollars. The home- 
air and the flavor and light of the PRESENCE that come from the 
habitnal occupation of an apartment by the people who accord with 
and enjoy its appointments, cannot be purchased with money. 

Abjure tawdry decoration and imitations in the shape of worsted 
anti-macassars, lamp-mats and wax-work. Japanese art provides 
many charming articles of nse and Inxnry. The wash-pongees 
from the same conntiy, when ontlined in fantastic designs in colored 
silks, make snch serviceable tidies and screens that you waste time 
and eyesight in crosb-stitch and crochet. 

A word as to wall paper. I am afraid this is as sore a cross to 
yon as the parterre of the body-Brussels, and that the two (the 
phrase is technical) “ swear at one another.” Stndy combinations 
and contrasts of color that yon may hit upon one which will bridge 
the chasm in selecting the portiere and other draperies, and further 
distract attention from the disagreement by trophies of Japanese 
fans, and, here and there, a Japanese banner hung within some dis¬ 
heartening stretch of glare and ugliness. 

A pleading voice over my shonlder says : “ Bnt the front room, 

which looks all the worse by contrast with the other ? ” 

I have taken for granted the hypothesis that few of the great 
and influential middle class who stndy this chapter with a desire to 
pnt their teachings into practical operation, care to disfnmish and 
refurnish their houses, or even a snite of rooms,—if, indeed, they 
could afford to do this. Your motto, my inquiring friend, should 
be, “ Strengthen the things that remain. ” Yon have wrought to 
little purpose in the home-nest yon have bnilt in the inner room if 
the taste and ingenuity therein displayed do not steal, like a mign- 


30 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


onette breath, across the threshold. Until 3^011 can spare more 
mone}'’ (one dress the less per annum will do it ) for carr3dng on the 
good work, devise inexpensive expedients for bringing the two 
apartments into harmon3/’, the one with the other. A trail of Ger¬ 
man ivy wandering over the rigid lines of the “ what-not, ” or the 
conversion of the whole structure into a flower-stand set intrepidly 
before a window ; a low trellis of hardier English iv3^ concealing the 
Slimmer-front and breaking the effect of the white marble; the 
falling into conversational groups of the chairs; the diagonal 
advance of the sofa across one corner, and of the table in another, 
a worked scarf cast athwart the top of the latter article of furniture; 
a miniature fernery on the table or one end of mantel; books— 
always such as people like to look at and read—'within reach of the 
hand of the visitor who is kept waiting for a few minutes; 
unframed photographs pinned up under larger pictures, a mantel- 
scarf,—any, or all of these accessories to more substantial plenish¬ 
ing, will refresh the eye and stay 3^our soul with the'promise of 
better things. As a parting hint,—keep the furniture away from 
the wall. Imagine your rooms inhabited by a merr3^, moving com¬ 
pany of people, and dispose the inanimate contents to suit their 
convenience and pleasure. 











































































































































































The Dining-Room, Meals and Serving. 


N ingenious architect, some dozen years ago, built a block of 
city houses on a plan which, he fondly assumed, would in 
I * time revolutionize the present order of homestead interiors. 
^ Kitchen, laundry and store-room were in the topmost 

story ; next, came servants’ dormitories ; then, those of the famil}^— 
dining-room, parlors, library, etc., being on the first and second 
floors. There would be no effluvia of suds, no odor of cookery in 
the living and show apartments ; the refined colloquy of the draw¬ 
ing-room would not be broken in upon by Milesian jargoning, or 
the chant shrilled by Dinah, accompanied by the castanets of 
rattling dishes, the thump of pots and kettles. Scents and sounds 
would be borne in a direction in which the man in the moon was 
the householder’s nearest neighbor. Provisions and laborers were 
to be hoisted to working-day precincts by an elevator. Below this 
torrid zone would reign the calm of a land where it is always after¬ 


noon. 


From an aesthetic standpoint, the theory was flawless. As a 
legislative experiment, it never passed the lower house. And, for 
once, mistress and maid were of the same mind. The one protested 
against the climb of three stories whenever she wished to issue an 
order or to inspect the work in hand; against the transportation of 



34 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


barrels of groceries and the passage of meddling Bridgets and 
thievish Mikes through the heart of her castle on the pretext of 
calling upon their “ frinds.” The maid howled at the barbarity of 
forcing a “ gurrel ” to risk her life forty times a day in a “ murder¬ 
ing dumb waiter,” or to run down twice forty stairs whenever the 
door bell rang. But the fatal defect, it was agreed, was the diffi¬ 
cult}^ of carrying coal by the dozen tons to a fourth-story bin. 

After half a year of ineffectual advertisement and exhibition, the 
benevolent theorist turned his houses upside down, and is still, for 
aught I know to the contrary, awaiting the millenium of exalted 
ideals, and the custom of cooking by cleanly gas and imponderable 
electricity. Until that day, the kitchen must remain, for conveni¬ 
ence sake, the lower prop of the household. It goes without saying, 
that when the size of the lot will permit, it should be a wing, or a 
rear extension of the main building, and never located in the cellar. 
It is as needless to state that in most city houses the kitchen is 
partly below the level of the street. I wish I were not obliged to 
add—and the dining-room on a level with the kitchen. Three 
times a day, hundreds and thousands of families plunge down 
straight gangways into genteel tanks, more or less chill and 
dark, to go through—perfunctorily—the business of eating and 
drinking. 

Basket-beggars flatten their noses against the panes, one-armed 
women, and men with no legs to speak of, sue for alms between the 
area rails ; the soap-fat vender, the butcher’s boy, the swill-barrow— 
form a goodly procession before the eyes of hosts and guests. 
When we are bent upon privacy or festivity, we bar the shutters 
and light the gas. 

There is no temptation to linger in what we may designate as 
the hold of our domestic craft when we have met the stomach’s 
demands. This duty done, we speed back to free air and sunlight. 




THE DINING-ROOM, MEALS AND SERVING. 35 

glad to escape from the cave where steams exhale and smells cling 
almost as continuously as in the adjacent kitchen, and one is never 
free from the jar of ciilinar}’- machinery. 

]\Iy heart smites me even as I write, and the remembrance of 
inaii}^ among those to whom these, friendly talks are dedicated— 
generous, beauty-loving souls—who are not likely to taste or to 
administer other than subterranean hospitality in the whole period 
of their natural (or unnatural) lives. I hasten to say that, still 
working along the vein uncovered in our second chapter, this 
chapter is prepared with express reference to those who must make 
the best of what zs. 

If your basement eating-room is an established fact, accept and 
ameliorate the position. In most of the dwellings of a most respect¬ 
able class of householders, it is not only the least pleasant for 
situation of all the chambers designed for human residents, but like¬ 
wise the dingiest. Close proximity to the kitchen may have some¬ 
thing to do with the degradation of what should be seemly and 
honorable. Our forefathers, who consumed their food within arm’s 
length of the stove on which it was cooked, “ ate to live ”—thrust¬ 
ing their knives down their throats to effect the safe conveyance of 
their victuals. There was no pretence of regarding a meal as a 
graceful ceremony. 

Yet this is what it should be. 

“ If I could but talk as you do ! ” exclaimed an artist to a brilliant 
racozitezir. “ Ideas struggle weakly to my tongue and die in the 
birth. And, because I am dumb, I must resign myself to pass 
for a fool when compared with men who know no more than I! ” 

For answer, the friend drew a loose sheet of paper from under 
the dumb man’s hand. While listening, the artist had sketched 
the story the telling of which had moved him to envy. Not a line 
was forceless, but there were in the rapid lining exquisite tenderness 


36 HOUSE AND HOME. 

and delicacy which were his rendering of the tale—not the nar¬ 
rator’s. 

“ This,” said the generous critic, holding it up to the view of the 
company—“ is visible tJwzight / Every rational being has some 
mode of expression, although rnany never find out what theirs is.” 

Every woman who has won any measure, however slight, of 
public recognition of her talent as author or artist, is besieged by 
letters and personal applications, having for their burden one query : 

“ Onr lives are hard and homely,” these say in effect; “ By the 
dissatisfaction we feel in these, we know ourselves to be capable of 
higher things. Tell ns how to make life beautiful, and show each 
of ns what is her mission.” 

It is not dumb poets only who “feel like a seed in the cold earth, 
quickening at heart, and pining for the air.” Others, besides mute, 
inglorious Miltons, 

* * * “ never sing, 

But die with all their music in them.” 


These obscure women’s lives are as much to them as was Elizabeth 
Tudor’s to her. They are as truly given of God as was a de Stael’s, 
or a Clotilda Tambroni’s,—talents for which He will demand inter¬ 
est. Is it wiser for them to expend strength and time in piteous 
whines at the cruelty of fate or to glorify commonness, and make 
aids for the upward growth of the thorns in the hedges that seem 
to shut them in ? 

There is a lesson for the discouraged house-mother,—sick, she 
believes, unto intellectual death—in the infinite pains and skill 
with which Trenck, the most accomplished man of his day,—robbed 
of liberty, fortune and betrothed,—etched on the tin cups in which 
water was served to him in prison, stories of his sorrow and of his 
love that made artistic gems of the mean pannikins. 



























































THE DINING-ROOM, MEALS AND SERVING. 39 

Too many women (and men) mistake for repressed genius the 
vague unrest which is the soul’s response to another’s poem, essay, 
or novel. Your appreciation of a noble utterance is not a guarantee 
that you could, in the most favorable circumstances, say the same 
thing, or anything one-half so good. 

This is not didacticism, but practical philosophy. 

What has this preamble to do with basement dining-rooms ? 

With dining-rooms, much,—with basements, somewhat. Rebel 
as we may at the minuteness of the line-upon-line which is our 
appointed work, refuse as we often do, to see the significance of 
stitch after stitch, and one short step at a time, all these things are 
a parable unto us, and of the Master’s giving. 

Suffer one more illustration—a pendant, if you like, to the 
picture of Trenck in the dungeon. 

Jane Welsh Carlyle, sitting up until three o’clock, A. m., await¬ 
ing the arising of her trial loaf of bread, and sobbing out her sense 
of “ forlomness and degradation^'' suddenly remembers Benvenuto 
Cellini sitting up all night watching his statue of Perseus in the 
furnace, and asks herself: “ After all, in the sight of the Upper 

Powers, what is the mighty difference between a statue of Perseus 
and a loaf of bread, so that each be the thing that one’s hand has 
found to do ? The man’s determined will, his patience, his energy, 
his resource, were the really admirable things of which his statue 
of Perseus was the mere chance expression. If he had been a 
woman living at Craigenputtock, with a dyspeptic husband, sixteen 
miles from a baker, all these same qualities would have come out 
more fully in a good loaf of bread.” That which came to spirited 
Jane by fits and starts, do you, her trans-Atlantic sister, take as a 
rule of daily thinking and daily living. Assuming that our eating- 
room is the duty nearest your hand^at present, let all the light that 
you can get flow into it, and in a double sense. Instead of deciding 


40 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


that the carpet condemned as too faded for back parlor or guest cham¬ 
ber is good enough for a basement, that out-of-date ornaments and 
discarded chromos and shabby furniture are here in place and keep¬ 
ing, do not esteem it beneath j^our dignity and above the occasion 
to make the apartment as attractive as is consonant with the 
means at your command. Especially, individualize it into some¬ 
thing better than such a sordid eating-place as may be found in a 
thousand second-rate boarding-houses. While it is not parlor or 
boudoir, in which to lounge away the inter\’ening hours of the tri¬ 
daily meals, it should become a rendezvous to which the several 
members of the household shall anticipate return at appointed 
seasons with higher pleasure than that begotten b}- animal appetite. 

Of course, the central and handsomest article of furniture must 
be the table. If you cannot afford fine china, pretty glass and solid 
silver spoons and forks, because 3^our parlor must be as elegant as 
your neighbor’s, tone down the elegance of the quarters fitted up 
for the inspection of outsiders, in order to bring up the tone of that 
which, more than any other single feature of housekeeping tends 
to make the abode, HOAlE, for a majorit}- of those to whom 3^our 
most zealous service is due. Just taste decries glaring incongruit3' 
in velvet coverings and hangings in the showrooms, and tawdr3' 
plated ware, coarse crocker3^ and naper3^ on the famiE^ board. 
When the table, thus furnished, is surrounded b3’’ wife and daugh¬ 
ters expensively attired in the reigning mode, the contrast is yet 
more disagreeable. If your ser\'ants handle breakfast and tea 
things rudely and cannot be taught better, take charge of them in 
person rather than vulgarize your children’s manners and taste by 
accustoming them to the habitual use of things “ that cannot be 
hurt.” My observation and experience go to prove that daint3^ 
wares prized openly and even affectionately by a mistress, are 
almost sure to meet with delicate usage from hirelings. Let them 




THE DINING-ROOIM, MEALS AND SERVING. 


41 

comprehend that while you hold these in esteem commensurate 
Vvuth their value, you give of your best to those you love best. 

Children are yet more easily trained into appreciation of the 
choice appointments of the table. The daily use of them is an 
object-lesson, inculcating the truth that, joined to the feminine 
passion for the fragile store is fonder devotion for those in whose 
service they are risked. In some subtle way the child respects 
himself the more, behaves the better, because his mother treats him 
as other fellows’ mothers treat company. He is more apt to sip 
noiselessly from a cut-glass goblet or a china cup than from a 
vessel that recalls the witty traveler’s complaint of a hotel coffee 
cup: 

“It is like trying to drink over the edge of a stone wall! ” 

To touch the fair array with unwashed hands soon stands with 
the boy as profanation. Laugh though we do at Angelina’s adjura¬ 
tion to Alphonso in displaying her purchase of an “ old blue ” tea¬ 
pot—“ Oh, do let us try to live up to it! ”—there is a grain of reason 
in it. Avail yourself, without scruple, of every such crumb of 
refining leaven. So long as you can obtain flowers, never set the 
table without a bowl or vase of them in the middle of the cloth, or 
near John’s plate. Your girls and boys will soon get the habit of 
seeking buds, grasses, autumn leaves, etc., as seasons change and 
serv^e, thus relieving yon of serious thought on the subject, and 
reducing the expense to a minimum. 

In nothing express yourself with more distinctness than in the 
maintenance of a certain state in the serving and in the partaking 
of family meals. Drill servants patiently in decorons forms of 
supplying the wants of those who are seated. As patiently exact 
from each of the latter as mnch propriety of demeanor as if a 
duchess presided at the head of the table, instead of the hard-worked 
woman who has caught no glimpse of a higher mission than this 


42 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


stitcli-line-and-step existence. Magnify your office, and never fear 
lest yon may not rise with it. 

Much of the slovenly serving and free-and-easy table manners 
conspicuous in households where we have a right to look for better 
things, is due to the circumstance that but one servant—perhaps 
none—was kept by the mother in the earlier years of her married 
life. By the time she could afford to hire “ a girl,” the domestic 
routine was established. Hence it is that “ father ” digs, if his 
carver be sharp, slashes, if it be dull, into the mountainous roast 
in front of him ; plunges a spoon into potato, or bean, or turnip dish 
to the right and left; deposits a share of each edible on the recep¬ 
tacle he is loading, and when it is teeming to the uttermost edge, 
stretches his arm to its full length to thump the mess at the owner’s 
place. He goes through the de-appetizing performance with grim 
dexterity acquired by long practice and the celerity of a ravenous 
man whose turn always comes last. Peas, beans, apple and cran¬ 
berry sauce, cabbage, tomatoes, green com—whatever is sweet or 
succulent—are dispensed in the saucerlings indigenous to provin¬ 
cial America, which environ the major trencher as moons attend a 
planet. 

Vulgar profusion, rapidly distributed, and disposed of with a 
certain “ quick-or-you-will-miss-it ” liveliness, are the only rules 
that govern such “feeds.” Young children enjoy the license to 
satisfy hunger in animal fashion, and, it may be added, often carry 
through life the uncomely tricks thus contracted. As the girls 
grow into womanhood, and become conversant with the customs of 
polite society, they sigh that “ we do not live as decent people do.” 
College sons draw down the thunders of paternal ire b}'' sneers at 
the “ scramble for grub,” and do not affect to conceal that they are 
ashamed of home and the parents to whom they are indebted for 


THE DINING-ROOM, MEALS AND SERVING. 43 

the education that has revealed to themselves the blemishes in 
their early breeding. 

“ Mothers over fifty years old are a nuisance and ought to be 
abated by law,” I heard a worthy, and, not an illiterate woman 
say when it was forced upon her that her brood had grown away 
from her. “ They have no right to live after their children are 
able to take care of themselves and to despise the ways in which 
they were brought up. Not that I would’nt alter things to suit 
them, even at my age, if I could. But Father is a hopeless subject. 
Somehow, men settle down harder than we do. He says that he 
left school forty years ago, and is’nt going to enter again, now. I’m 

afraid ”-with a sort of weary wistfulness that went to my heart 

—“ the mistake was mine. It did’nt seem worth while to be par¬ 
ticular about the little matters which I see now, when it is too late 
to correct mistakes, were not trifles.” 

One simple and excellent measure towards the avoidance of 
stubborn “ settling ” in the matter of table etiquette is to train 
children to act as waiters when there is no servant to fulfill the 
duties of that ofEce, The mother should keep herself informed as 
far as possible, as to the latest and best methods of setting and 
serving the table, and interest her assistants in carrying these into 
practice in her modest me^iage^ each of the juniors taking his or her 
turn, according to a system of rotation arranged by her. Little 
girls, in particular, take eager delight in such details and pride in 
acting their parts well, but you should not, on this account, excuse 
the boys from their apprenticeship. They will make more considerate 
sons, brothers, and husbands for this bit of experimental knowledge 
of housewifery. Such service and the amicable emulation growing 
out of it when the business is transacted with spirit, help educate 
children by overcoming the bashfnlness arising from self-conscious¬ 
ness, and by engendering the habit of courteous attention to the 



44 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


wants of otliers. Your daughter will better conduct the affairs of 
the handsome establishment which may be hers, some day, for 
the practice she has had in a subordinate position. It will not 
derogate from your boy’s manliness that he can pass a plate with¬ 
out emptying the contents into his neighbor’s lap, fill a tumbler 
without slopping the water over the cloth, and even brandish a 
crumb-scraper with the address of a “ professional.” 

When your aids are amateurs, or when a maid of all work must 
be summoned by the call-bell from the kitchen or attic to shift the 
courses, it is advisable to set the dishes of vegetables as w'ell as 
meat, bread-tray, butter and whatever else is needed for the course 
in progress, on the table. In these circumstances, let the person 
nearest a side dish do the honors of the same, “ helping ” it out 
neatly and judiciously. Most regularly trained waiters, in this day, 
prefer to pass entrees and, indeed nearly everything else, from the 
side-board. The method involves less reaching over and between 
those who are seated, and fewer circuits on the part of the official 
on duty. 

As a rule of wide and general application,—do not be afraid of 
innovations. The world in which we live is learning new and easier 
ways of doing old things every day. If there is a better rule by 
which to order your labor than the one taught to you by your mother, 
you do not dishonor her memory in adopting it. People are as 
virtuous and healthy now as before telephones and potato-peelers 
were invented, and when four-tined forks were unknown except in 
the mansions of “ the quality.” Nevertheless, consider the reluct¬ 
ance of the mind masculine to receive an untried system, the slow¬ 
ness with which it—in common with other great natural forces— 
adjusts itself to change, and introduce improvements tactfully. 
For—John—let it never be forgotten,—is not only a vertebrate animal 
and a fellow creature—but he is—JOHN ! 



























































































































































THE DINING-ROOM, MEALS AND SERVING. 47 


Home, with its inmates, is your world—your canvas—your 
sculptor’s clay. It may be only a tin cup in the eyes of strangers. 
Let the etching be clear, and the design an expression of yourself 
at your worthiest—what you would be, rather than what you are. 



Cottage-Furnishing. 


T o the word “ cottage,” in this connection, is to be applied the 
first definition set over against it in Webster:—“A small 
habitation.” It does not, in onr hands, mean a suburban 
villa, trebly-storied, with far-spreading roofs and towers 
flanked by conservatories, and stabling for twenty horses. Nor a 
Queen Anne mansion (pronounced by the mistress, as the supreme 
touch of aesthetic mincingness—“An-ne,”) breaking up with hyphen¬ 
like suddenness, the continuity of a city block,—a thing of buttresses 
and gables; amazing comers and carving, painted windows and 
fabulous cost. Nor should the word necessarily suggest the Ameri¬ 
can rendering of the modern ornate in cottage-building for the 
million, as exhibited in town and hamlet and isolated farmstead. 
Homes where the unexpected runs riot in staircases, bulging 
windows, balconies and audacious flights of color. It is easy to 
make the interior of such habitations picturesque. It is as frequently 
.impossible to introduce real comfort into the irregularly-shaped cup¬ 
boards marked in the plan as chambers—sometimes, in sarcastic 
courtesy, as “ living rooms.” Our cottage may be rectangular in 
form, and the divisions of the interior commonplace to ugliness. 
I am afraid the inside walls are kalsomined, and it may even be that 
the exterior is painted white with green blinds. Why people who 

48 











































































































COTTAGE-FURNISHING. 


51 


have eyes to be blinded, if not taste capable of taking offense, should 
have persisted during eight generations, in rearing these obtrusive 
constructions under sapphire skies and amid groves of vividest 
verdure, is beyond the comprehension of the lover of true harmony. 
It is yet more strange that the white, glaring walls dotted with 
unsympathetic green should be chiefly affected in the regions where 
forests are leafless for half the year, and the heavens pale as from the 
reflection of the snow-shrouded earth. Let this pass for the present. 
We are learning and practising better things. 

One of the new lessons we will take as the starting point and 
controlling tint of our cottage furnishing. We are forgetting as 
fast as is consistent with the adhesive properties of prejudice, the 
tenet that, in the matter of upholstery, “ heavy ” and “ handsome ” 
are synonyms. ]Mahogany has refused to be driven from the field, 
although pressed hard by red cherry, but hair-cloth has for a season 
—we would fain hope, forever—bidden the world of fashion fare¬ 
well. The bedstead, uncompromising, yet indispensable obstacle 
to the graceful negligence with which we would like to dispose our 
furniture in upper rooms, is lighter every year, and ambles from 
wall to wall at the housewife’s will, more readily than our grand¬ 
mother’s arm-chair ever moved, even at the semi-annual house-clean¬ 
ing. Our cottager will practically exscind the adjectives “ massive ” 
and “ rich ” from her vocabulary. They throw everything out of 
joint, and become her modest plenishing as ill as a remnant of her 
mother’s brown satin brocade would accord with the plump pretti¬ 
ness of the wearer were it made into a slip for the cottager’s 
baby. 

To begin with the floors ; —respectable manuals of economy and 
sanitary tirades to the contrary notwithstanding—the practical 
housewife who keeps but one maid-of-all-work (and that one, as 
likely as not, herself) shakes her head doubtfully over the recom- 


52 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


mendation of hard wood or painted floors all over the house. The 
former require careful treatment and much polishing to keep them 
in really excellent order. A scratch from a chair roughly pushed 
back is a blemish not easily removed; the gradual grind and grime 
of passing feet into the grain of the wood are a defacement which, 
in time, involves the necessity of planing, or rubbing down with 
sandpaper. Unless properly treated from the first, they are a 
grievance to eye and spirit. 

But hard wood floors are seldom seen in cheap houses, built for 
sale or rent. The floors in your habitation are probably of pine, 
the boards of unequal length, the cracks between them wide. You 
can fill the fissures with putty, and by applying several coats of 
paint, obtain a smooth surface. 

Our sanitarian says, “ Having done this, lay down rugs here 
and there, which may be shaken every day.” 

Unquestionably, a carpet that is not swept and dusted several 
times a week is the least cleanly of floor coverings. There is as 
little question that painted floors must be dusted daily and washed 
weekly—oftener, if the apartment be in daily family use. In the 
kitchen a painted floor is almost a necessit}^ and the stated scrub¬ 
bing is taken into consideration in the appointment of the week’s 
work. When the sum of this task is multiplied by the number of 
rooms in your house, the outlook is disheartening. Before offer¬ 
ing a solution to the difficulty, let us have a word, more together 
touching carpets. 

For many years the array of tawdry lengths of carpeting that 
hang with a sort of nightmare tapestry at the fronts of “ bargain 
shops,” was an inscrutable enigma to me. Somebody must buy 
them, or the display would not be perennial and the exhibitors still 
hopeful. “ What manner of men and women deliberately select 
and pay current coin for the pendant horrors ? ” is a riddle that 


COTTAGE-FURNISHING. 


53 


may well nonplus a Grand Street or Bowery CEdipus. Much sur¬ 
vey of country taverns and third-rate city hotels helps one to 
account for a majority of these mysterious disappearances. “ Smart” 
cottages, farm houses and flats are responsible for the rest. It is not 
many months since I was taken by a thrifty farmeress out of the 
“ living room,” where a small figured ingrain carpet of subdued 
colors harmonized with her and the well-saved furniture, across a 
hall to a locked door. Turning the key, the good woman threw it 
open with an air Mrs. Pullet could not have outdone when heading 
the procession bound upon the memorable pilgrimage to view the 
new bonnet kept in the locked drawer of the locked wardrobe of 
the best spare bedroom—also locked. 

“ I wanted you should see our new parlor carpet,” said my guide, 
hastening to unclose the shutters, then tip-toeing back to the thres¬ 
hold where she had left me. 

Her husband, married daughter, and three grandchildren joined 
us there, and all gazed at The Carpet. There were two large par¬ 
lors connected by folding-doors. It must have taken at least 
seventy-five yards to cover the floors. If the average bargain in 
pseudo-Brussels be a nightmare, this particular specimen was 
delirium tremens. As the light from the unbarred windows smote 
it, it seemed to leap up and strike me in the face, so aggressive 
were the chromes, vermilions, blues and greens, that fought for 
mastery in the tormented superficies of eighteen by forty feet. 

“And only fifty cents a yard!” the owner of this magnificence was 
saying when I could listen to her. “Real tay-pestry body Brus^^A.' ” 

“You see,” explained the daughter, “ it was an old pattern and 
clean out of style. That made it come so cheap. To my mind, 
it’s cheerfuller and more tasty than the fady things folks chase 
after now-a-days.” 


54 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Before I could do more than remind myself that such coarse 
incongruity had never been tn style with people of just tastes, the 
father added his tribute : 

“ It’l last for fifty years, seein’ we never use the room to set in 
week days. It jes’ dooz Mother’s soul good to set in that ’ere big 
chair a-Sunday afternoons in her go-to-meetin’ close, an’ read her 
‘ Saints’ Rest.’ I tell her she’ll never get nearer heaven in this 
world.” 

“ Mother ” was a good woman, and, I make no doubt, could 
meditate upon the glories of the New Jerusalem with her feet on 
that blasphemy of the loom, when my unsanctified imagination 
suggested The Inferno. 

Don’t be persuaded into buying anything because it is cheap. 
What does not suit you is dear at any price. Cheap carpets 
are the most serious blunder a housekeeper can make, inasmuch 
as they last forever (in a “ best room ”) and are so obvious 
while they are here. Since you cannot afford to purchase expen¬ 
sive ones, get none unless you spread a figureless ingrain on 
your bedroom, or nursery, or wherever the baby is dressed and 
plays, and where you sit with him on winter days. Carpeting of 
this kind is a yard wide and the best costs from $1.00 to $1.25 per 
yard. An old gold, with a border of scarlet and dull blue, is pretty 
and will wear well. If the hall is trodden by many feet it may be 
wise to put an English ingrain (unfigured)—what carpet-men call 
“ filling ”—on that floor also. In choosing colors, remember that 
dark shades show dusty foot-tracks more than lighfshades. 

Get mattings for the rest of the house. They are cheaper than 
any other floor covering, ranging from twenty-five to fifty cents a 
yard for the yard-wide pieces woven in different colors, less for the 
plain. Moreover, they are clean, easily kept neat, pretty, and just 
now, fashionable. Besides the yellowish and bluish-white, and that 
























































































































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COTTAGE-FURNISHING. 


57 


interspersed by cubes of red, which were the only varieties known to 
our mothers, we are now offered deep red, olive, orange-and-black, 
blue, blue and gra}^, and many other combinations of hues. The 
“ damask mattings,” all of which are “jointless,” that is without the 
protruding ends of twine-warp on the under side,—are more costly. 

Olive would look well in your parlor, red in the guest chamber. 
In your bedroom and the family living room, a mingled pattern in 
line lines will be most serviceable. Red-and-white will brighten a 
basement—or otherwise depressed—dining room. Whatever you 
have there, lay a large rug or drugget over it that the dragging of 
chairs over the woven straw may not fray it into holes. 

It is considered necessar}^ to hang Holland shades at all front 
windows, but you need not have them at the back of the house if 
you prefer to use in some other way the money they would cost. 
Cream-colored, or ecru, is preferable to dead white. Blue and green 
are not to be thought of. Do not let a fashion that must be short¬ 
lived betray you into the purchase of the mustard-colored shades, 
ghastly without and within, which impart a jaundiced com¬ 
plexion to rows of city and village houses. 

For inner curtains, get scrim, or make those for the parlor of 
soft muslin trimmed with inserting and edge of antique lace. Plain 
cheese-cloth at six cents a yard, is less vulgar than Nottingham 
lace, associated as it is with steam-boat saloons and cheap flashiness 
of all kinds. Turkey-red curtains, hung from rods and rings, and 
banded with cretonne of good contrasting colors, will go well with 
the bright matting in your spare chamber. Drape every window with 
something. This done, and the matting dowm, the cottage is half- 
fitted up. 

In choosing from the extensive variety of “cottage-sets” offered 
for sale, give preference to native woods above those coated with 
paint. White-wood (poplar) maple, cherry, ash and oak are all pretty, 


58 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


and not expensive except as they are made so by carvings and other 
ornaments. The questions of stability and graceful shapes take 
precedence of showiness. See that bureau-drawers run smoothly, 
and that mirrors are clear and well set. For the chambers, select 
bedsteads, bureaus and wash stands, and do not take chairs which are 
almost invariably stiff and uncomfortable. A Shaker or rattan 
rocker, and two or three odd seats, including a couple of straw 
chairs (at $2.50 apiece) will serve your purpose better than four or 
six ugly affairs that “ come with the sett.” The technical affectation 
of the double t gives unintentional point to the rigidity of the idea. 
It is no longer needful, and it never was sensible to have every 
article of furniture in the room repeat the exact features of the rest 
of the family. Be heedful that your colors agree, the one with the 
other, and that no piece puts the rest to shame by a feint of splendor, 
then, in grouping and general effect, write YOURSELF —your m.ark— 
over and again. This do without slavish deference to the upholsterer, 
or dread of the criticism of your most particular friend, whose income 
being ten times larger than yours, authorizes her to cultivate a just 
taste. Bryant’s “ Death of the flowers ” is as perfect in its wa}^ as 
“ Thanatopsis.” Have your “ way,” and do not mar it by ambitions. 

If you have but one parlor, let that be a library. Whatever else 
may go out, “ books that are books ” are always in. Aristocrats 
ingrain, they dignify whatever they touch. I marvel much that 
parvemis are so slow iu discovering this, so crudely short-sighted in 
banishing the only patrician element in their houses from the rooms 
in which they dwell, and are seen of visitors. A book-case stocked 
with classics that have evidently been read, is a better patent of 
nobility to the eye of the initiated than a family coat-of-arms. 
Works of standard fiction, poetry, essays—scattered here and the:e^ 
on mantel or table, are a guarantee of refinement such as diamonds, 
laces and catch-words of art and society cannot offer. 


'COXXAGE: BED F\Op 



• t 



















































































































































































































COTTAGE-FURNISHING. 


6 i 


Fill the recesses on each side of the mantel with breast-high 
book-shelves ; establish a reading corner within arm’s length of one 
set of them; supply it with the cosiest chair you own, a footstool, 
table—draped with a tasteful cloth—reading lamp, paper-cutter and 
ink-stand. A dictionary stand, also within reach, is convenient— 
and effective. 

Should the room be small, have furniture of corresponding 
dimensions. Bulky articles lessen the apparent size. A bamboo 
settee, heaped at one end with soft cushions covered with Turkey- 
red and pale blue, or olive, is more elegant because it is in keeping 
with the parlor and its appointments, than a big sofa, which is, 
perforce, a fixture between the windows, or at the far side of the 
apartment, there being no other space adequate to contain it. 

If you have a knack for domestic upholstery—and this may be 
acquired—the convenience and beauty of your home can be greatly 
enhanced at little cost. I do not recommend the endeavor detailed 
and illustrated by so many writers in domestic journals, to furnish 
an entire cottage without other materials than a few packing-cases, 
sawed-down barrels, a hundred yards or thereabouts of chintz, a load 
of hay, and mother-wit at discretion. The results of obedience to 
the directions set forth by these economists look well—on paper. 

But trunk lounges are valuable, and may be pretty in a habita¬ 
tion where chambers are small and closets few. A stout dry goods 
box will do for a foundation if you can procure one of the right 
size. The top must be strongly hinged, and braced by nailing strips 
of wood transversely on the lower side. Make a bag of sacking or 
burlaps, one side half an inch wider and longer than the box-lid, 
after allowing for seams, the upper, two inches wider all around, the 
fullness being pleated in neatly at the corners. Leave one end open, 
fill loosely with “ excelsior,” or jute ; tack down through the seams 
on three sides of the outer edges of the lid, and finish the stuffing 


62 


HOUSE AND- HOiME. 


through the open end, packing the jute in with a stick until it is 
smooth and compact. Nail down the open end of the bag and cover 
all with another piece of burlaps, tacked—except at the hinged 
back, to the under side of the lid, the edges of the stuff being turned 
in neatly. Draw this tightly to leave no bulges or wrinkles in the 
cushion. Cover the outside of the box with the burlaps or other 
stout material. Finally, stretch and tack chintz, cretonne, or some 
momie cloth evenly over the top and the sides of the box. If the inside 
is not clean and smooth, line with wall paper pasted in neatly. 

A large trunk lounge, somewhat low and broad, is useful as a 
seat and a receptacle for blankets, linen, and thin dresses that lose 
crispness when hung in a closet. Smaller ones do duty as shoe 
boxes and catchalls for odds and ends. A cheese box, treated as 
above described, makes a nice footstool and a lurking-place for 
“ Papa’s ” and “ the boys’ ” slippers. 

In the bath room, set a trunk lounge of fair size in which to 
keep soiled clothes. Have a strong top made by a carpenter for the 
bath tub, fitting securely on the wooden frame enclosing it. Tack 
upon this lid a cushion like that prepared for the lounge, cover 
with momie cloth or cretonne, and keep it on the tub when the 
latter is not in use. By this simple device the unsightly yawn of 
the interior is masked, and the tub is* kept clean. The lid can easily 
be lifted on or off as occasion requires. 

This is but one of the many means by which feminine tact and 
dexterity may take off the rougher edges of the Strictly Useful, 
without descending to the inanities of decorated rolling-pins and 
flat-irons. For bed coverings, buy cheap white counterpanes, and 
affect no finery in the direction of imitation lace spreads lined with 
colored cambric. If you cannot afford fine china, get Japanese 
ware, choosing the prettiest quaintnesses your means will allow. It 
is by no means advisable to have all of the same pattern. In this 





COTTAGE-FURNISHING. 63 

respect as in many other departments of house furnishing, “ Mot¬ 
ley’s the only wear ” approved by fashion. 

Lastly—shun the extremes of scantiness and crowding. “Clut¬ 
tering ” is a fault too common with those who do their own plenish¬ 
ing, and are solicitous to make modest means go far. An incon¬ 
secutive jumble of useless ornament in drawing room or cottage 
parlor always reminds me of the man, who, hopeless of mastering 
the mysteries of punctuation, wrote his letters without stops, long 
or short, and added at the close, several lines of commas, semi¬ 
colons, periods, dashes, exclamation and interrogation points, 
bidding his correspondents “ pepper and salt to suit themselves.” 

Let your seasoning be well distributed, relishful, and your very 
own—not another’s. 






Licensed Beggar, or Business Partner? 


LOVELESS marriage is legalized crime. Marriage entered 
upon without just appreciation of mutual relations and 
I * obligations is folly so grave as to approximate sin. 
▼ Romance-makers and consumers have had their own 

way with respect to the second of these conditions so long that gen¬ 
erations of common-sense teaching will hardly suffice to set loving 
hearts and light heads right as to this most important of earthly 
alliances. People who see clearly both sides of other practical 
issues, descry here no neutral ground on which those who have 
known for themselves the mistakes of youth and the trials of 
maturity, may stand to parley with others who are emulously pres¬ 
sing forward to cross the frontier of the New World which is the 
Old. With the young, inability to reason where love and wedlock 
are involved, amounts to passionate intolerance of dissuasive 
counselors. 

It is not true that society is, on the point under discussion, 

divided into two classes—optimists who advocate and exalt married 

state, and pessimists who slander it. Allow me, as one of the much 

misunderstood middle-aged counselors aforesaid to make one thing 

clear at the outset of our talk. Speaking, not only for one woman, 

but many, and, as I believe, for many men, I strike deep as the 

first stake to which our measuring line is to be tied, the assertion 

61 











LICENSED BEGGAR, OR BUSINESS PARTNER? 65- 

that the truest happiness, the purest, most satisfying, as it is the 
most enduring, for both sexes, is to be found in marriage. Further¬ 
more, I venture the opinion that a larger proportion of such unions 
is happy than miserable. Now and then, one happens in his daily 
walk of life, upon what may be called an Ideal Marriage. 
One, in which perfect congruity of mind, heart, taste and 
sentiment exists and has its perfect work. Each of us sees 
perhaps half-a-dozen such in the course of a life-time of 
tolerable length—visions that keep alive within us, as arbutus buds 
hold the germs of bloom under northern snows, some sweet rem¬ 
nants of faith in that sublimest of philanthropist’s dreams—the 
ultimate perfectibility of the human race. Many more couples rest 
content, with a nice, every-day satisfaction that prevents fancy from 
straying into forbidden fields, in the belief that each of the twain is 
better suited to the other than he, or she could be to any one else. 
But the great majority, being mated, do not trouble their wits with 
bootless speculations as to the exactness of the match, and rub 
comfortably along together. Ups and downs there are, sometimes, 
not a few. Bruises thus received ache longer than they are com¬ 
plained of; an old sprain never gets over the trick of twinging in 
certain states of the weather; there is even an old scar or two under 
lace ’kerchief or diamond-studded shirt front. On the whole, how¬ 
ever, husbands and wives are less dissatisfied and do not quarrel so 
often as would brothers and sisters, if obliged to live together all 
their lives with indissoluble community of interests. The Honor¬ 
able Estate is justified of her children, nor is the imprint of the 
Divine Founder effaced beyond recognition and interpretation. This 
chapter then, is not even a remote head of an “ improvement ” of 
Punch’s famous text “ for the consideration of persons contemplat¬ 
ing marriage ”— '"'‘DonHi'* It is because a good thing is so good 
that we who believe in it would make it better, if possible. Because 


66 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


the black spot of decay is bitterest in exquisitely flavored fruit, A\ e 
bemoan its appearance there. 

If I were asked—“ What, to the best of your belief, is the most 
prolific and general source of heart burnings, contention, harsh 
judgment and secret unhappiness among respectable married people 
who keep up the show even to themselves, of reciprocal affection ? ” 
my answer would not halt for an instant. It has been ready for 
thirty years. 

The crymg need of a right mutual understanding ^ with resfect to 
the right ownership of the fa^nily mconie. 

It has drawn more women into shame than all the gallant, gay 
Lotharios ever bom ; driven more into their graves than drunken¬ 
ness and brutality. The sandals of the thought-reading Diogenes 
would be worn out and his lantern rusted into a tattered sheath 
before success would reward his quest in cit}^ mart and country 
high-ways for a wife who never smarted under the scorpion lash. 

“The smart is unreasonable?” To the last degree, my dear 
John, red with generous ire at the thought that my sweeping gener¬ 
alization may comprise her “ who is to him a second soul,”—“ the 
custodian of the archives of his heart.” 

Both phrases are borrowed for the occasion. One from the 
eloquent sermon of a widower who found far more comfort in speak¬ 
ing of his dead wife than to her while living. The second from an 
oration delivered by an eminent lawyer who occupied the same house 
as that which held the custodian of his archives, but presumably had 
no new deposits to make, since he allowed weeks to pass without see¬ 
ing her, except at meal time. But the John with whom we have to 
do is honest, and in very serious earnest. He loves his wife, believes 
in her, respects her most heartily. He tmsts her with his honor, his 
children, his hopes of earthly happiness. For what has he to live 
except Mary and the babies ? ” 


LICENSED BEGGAR, OR BUSINESS PARTNER? 67 

“ Home and Wife I ” He says it reverently as he might quote 
holy words. When he uttered at the altar—“ With all my worldly 
goods I thee endow,” he meant it, down to the sincere bottom of his 
soul. In giving her himself, he gave everything. The greater 
includes the less. 

“ Don’t you see ? ” The worthy fellow plants himself in front of 
the essayist. In his perplexed eyes there is no guile, his speech is 
seasoned with the salt of directness. 

“ DonH you see ? there is nothing a man enjoys more than mak¬ 
ing his family happy with the money he has earned. I keep my 
wife as lavishly supplied as my means will permit. I never grudged 
her a cent. She knows I like to give her all the cash I can spare. 
Why a woman in such circumstances should mind asking her hus¬ 
band for money when she needs it passes the masculine comprehen¬ 
sion.” 

Every word of the declaration has the force of an affidavit. 
Some men say as much and more, but as they repeat their set 
prayers—because the form is decent and habitual. Representative 
John is above suspicion. Emulating his frankness, I reiterate that 
Mary is unreasonable. I add that in this infirmity she, too, represents 
her sex. It is a marvel that centuries of custom have not eradicated 
prejudice from our minds. It is more wonderful that so few of us 
have divined and broadly stated the cause of the gnawing discom¬ 
fort that makes the bravest and most loving wife sometimes drop 
her eyes and blush bumingly when her lord “ supplies her lavish¬ 
ly ” with money which, he reassuringly tells her, he has earned 
purposely that she might have the pleasure of spending it. It is 
most surprising that men—analytical, just, magnanimous, as 
thousands of them are—should not be taught by the very pleasure 
the best of them feel in thus bestowing largesse —the complement 


68 HOUSE AND HOME. 

of which is gratitude —wliat is the root (and bitterness) of this 
unreason. 

Women ought not to object to being considered and treated as 
paupers. But they do! 

The youngest brother, always beloved of the fairies, who is the 
winning hero in the story of The White Cat, almost lost heart 
when having successively cracked walnut, hazel-nut, date, and 
cherry-seed and grain of wheat, he came to the millet-seed in the 
center of all. “ But,” we read, “ putting it to his ear, he heard a 
faint barking, and, gathering courage, he cracked the millet-seed 
carefully and there was the prettiest little dog ever beheld.” 

Our millet-seed, when concentric outer-layers have been peeled 
away, gives up as black and ill-favored a cur-ling as the Prince of 
Darkness ever sent yelping through a sin-cursed earth. 

“/« Forma Pauperis f is not a tempting class motto ; hardly the 
legend a free bom immortal would select to bear upon his phylac¬ 
tery. Yet this is what nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine 
out of every ten thousand women bind on brow and soul with the 
slipping on of the wedding-ring. Man, the Bread-winner; Woman, 
the Bread-eater. Man, active and beneficent; Woman, passive and 
grateful. So run the antitheses ; so ring the changes in the old, 
old hateful story. Having let escape from my (feminine) pen the 
easing blot of the italicised adjective, let me, in sober sadness, ask 
the reader’s consideration of a few absolutely true illustrations of 
the working of the principle I have formulated as mildly as is con¬ 
sistent with the chronicler’s duty. I premise that in not one of the 
instances narrated, all of which have fallen under my personal 
observation, was complaint of the husband so much as hinted at. 
Herein, to my apprehension, is the most pathetic side of the history. 
The quiet statement of a fact outside the pale of criticism, the 
naive assumption of the necessity, that while the king can do no 


LICENSED BEGGAR, OR BUSINESS PARTNER? 69 

wrong, his subjects must live in some fashion, remind me of what I 
once heard a slave woman say, when commended for her faithful 
care of her master’s children and asked if she had any of her own: 

“ I done had six, but ole marster, he los’ so much money ten 
year ago, he was obleeged fur to sell ’em all.” 

The comparison is not flattering. Let ns hope that the error of 
taste is in my imagination. 

Before dismissing our well-beloved John, and proceeding to the 
survey of a series of much less interesting portraits, I offer a story 
of another husband of another type. 

Mrs. A., a rich and most Christian lady, in paying a delayed 
subscription to a charitable society, made this apology: “I had to 
wait until certain dividends of my own fell due. I wanted it to be 
my very own gift.” 

The treasurer was an intimate friend and there was no one else 
present. Mrs. A. went on in feigned lightness : 

“You are saying to yourself that a woman whose father settled 
a neat fortune on her, aiid whose husband is said to be a millionaire, 
should not have such embarrassments. Literally, I have command 
of but five hundred dollars a year to which I feel I have undisputed 
claim. This comes to me from the stock I mentioned just now. 
The notice of the half-yearly dividend is served on me instead of 
on Charley, and I seize the opportunity to pay my charitable debts 
before he can inquire if the notification has arrived. I will not 
deny that a little scene is usually the result. Being masculine, my 
dear boy cannot see why I should, as he phrases it, ‘ split hairs on 
this point.’ ” 

‘ “ Don’t I give you all the money you want ? ” he pleads. 

‘ “ Yes,” I answer, “ and more.” 

‘ “ Then, my love, why not use it for benevolent purposes ? ” 

‘ “ That would be giving of your substance, not mine,” I reason. 


70 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


“ He shakes his head. “ The distinction is too subtle and feminine 
for me. You know my desire that the property willed to you by 
your father may be allowed to accumulate for you and the children. 
It would be most useful should I become insolvent,’’ etc., etc. 

“ The darling old bat can’t see that he is depriving me of the 
privilege he esteems so highly for himself—the blessedness of being * 
liberal. So, I remain disobedient, and hide the sin when I can. 
We have Scriptural warrant for not letting the right hand know 
what the left hand does. Charley is my right hand.” 

Mrs. B., Irish laundress, aged sixty, sober, diligent and honest, 
mystified me one day by asking that I would not “ find it convay- 
nient to pay more nor sivinty-five cints a day for a matther of three 
months or so. Thin, mem, come the holidays; I’ll thrust ye to 
sthraighten the account. Jist now, wages is fell all over. There’ll 
be no questions asked.” 

When she left the room the chambermaid explained that Mr. B. 
drank hard, and to this end demanded his wife’s earnings. The 
old lady had in charge two orphan grandchildren to whom she 
wished to give shoes at Christmas. Hence the pious fraud. 

The case of Mrs. C. comes in here apropos to Christmas gifts. 
Her husband is one of the richest young men in a flourishing New 
England town. She was the prett}^ daughter of a country clergy¬ 
man. Lest the novel delight of having money to handle should 
be too much for her, he put on the auditing brake. She might order 
whatever was used in the elegant establishment of which she was 
nominally mistress, but he would look over all the bills before 
giving her money with which to pay them. At the end of the first 
year—they were married during the holidays—the poor child went 
home for a Christmas visit, empty-handed. Like many other rich 
men’s wives, she had not a penny of pin-money Even her 
street car fares were paid with tickets furnished by her lord. 











































































































































LICENSED BEGGAR, OR BUSINESS PARTNER? 73 

At the dawn of the second twelvemonth, a happy inspiration 
visited her. Her butcher rendered his weekly account in pencil, 
on loose leaves torn from a memorandum-block. Each of these 
was ingeniously doctored before it was submitted to the auditor. A 
cent per pound w^as added here, half-a-cent there, delicacies were 
taxed in proportion to season and rarity, and the sum total con¬ 
firmed the evidence of the items. She boasted gleefully to her sis¬ 
ter, who was her confidante, that she had several times pocketed 
$1.50, twice, $2.00 a week by the ruse. • Each member of the par¬ 
sonage family had a token at Christmas tide from the lucky 
daughter and sister who had drawn a prize in the matrimonial 
lotteiy. 

Mrs. D. sat so near me at a “ Board meeting ” one day that I 
overheard her voluble preference for giving “ goods ” towards fur¬ 
nishing the new hospital, rather than money. 

“ You know,” she said with a jolly, unctuous giggle to the sec¬ 
retary “ my husband is the kindest creature in the world, but he 
does’nt believe in charities. He is as liberal as can be about the 
housekeeping and so forth, only he insists on paying the bills 
himself. He says that women are not fit to be trusted with more 
than fifty cents at a time. My husband will always have his joke. 
Now, he will never know that the piece of sheeting I shall send 
here is not used at our house. Nor the table-cloth and napkins.” 

The good soul’s relish of the two-fold pleasure of charity and 
of outwitting her close-fisted spouse was edifying—if the beholder 
chanced to like that sort of thing. 

Mrs. E., refined in sensibilities and a fond parent, submitted a 
case of ethics to a motherly friend. Her daughter has a passion 
for music and is already a brilliant performer. Her father thinks 
she knows enough of the art and declines to spend more money in 
tuition fees. The better educated wife, sympathizing with the girl’s 





74 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


desire to be thorough, pays without his knowledge, for lessons from 
a distinguished professor, saving the money out of the allowance 
placed in her hands for marketing. 

“ I hope it is not wrong,” she faltered in making the confession. 
“ It does seem as if nobody is defrauded. The allowance is very 
liberal and I am careful to keep a good table. The thing which 
troubles my conscience is that my girl is privy to a deception 
practised by her mother on her father.” 

Mrs. F.’s husband tells the following anecdote of his early mar¬ 
ried life as a lesson to other thoughtless Benedicts : 

“ It never occurred to me that my wife might need to buy new 
clothes. Yet I knew that women went shopping, and might have 
reflected that even so bountiful a trousseau as hers could not last for¬ 
ever. Nor did the thought that she might want a few cents for carfares 
caramels, hair-pins and the like, present itself to my stupid mind. 
We boarded at a hotel, had nice rooms, excellent fare, pleasant society 
and went somewhere every evening. My little womanwas always well 
dressed, looked happy, and gave no indication of the impecnniosity 
that was playing Spartan fox at her vitals. One evening, more than 
two years after our wedding day, I came up town with tickets for the 
opera and a bouquet for her to carry, for which, I recollect, I paid 
three dollars. She made one excuse after another for declining to go 
and when all were overruled, burst into tears, and confessed that 
she had no shoes fit to wear out-of-doors. In proof of this she showed 
me her best boots bunglingly cobbled by her poor little fingers. 

“Why have’nt you bought new ones ?” asked I, naturally enough. 
I never shall forget the piteous, shame-faced look she gave me. 

“ I had no money, dear. The fifty dollars mamma put into 
my purse when I left home went for little necessaries long 
ago. I tried, again and again, to ask you for more, but the words 
would not leave my tongue.” 




LICENSED BEGGAR, OR BUSINESS PARTNER? 75 

The reader will please note that in recounting these phases 
of matrimonial experience, I refrain from commendation or from 
censure of the feeling that moved the actors to diplomacy, deception 
and reserve. 

If necessary, I could give a hundred instances to prove how 
obstinate and universal is the aversion to the role of chronic bene¬ 
ficiary, how powerful the temptation to evade it by every device 
feminine cunning can bring to bear upon the situation. 

Let us look at the matter as if we had never thought of it 
before. Can that which consolidates the best women of the land 
into a guild of privileged paupers be anything but an evil that calls 
for redress ? This particular form of mendicancy may be honorable 
in all things, and alleviated in a multitude of cases by the tenderest 
assiduity of affection, but, in the estimation of their husbands and 
society—to their own shamed eyes—it is to wives dependence 
and vassalage. Ask them (when their lords are not by) one and 
all, leaving out the ten thousandth woman alluded to awhile ago 
—how they like it. 

Representative John comes gallantly to the front once more. 
“ Would you have MY WIFE earn her own living ? ” 

Yes!—emphatically. 

“ How can she when she is already housekeeper, wife, mother, 
teacher, nurse, seamstress, companion—to say nothing of general 
inspiration, and supreme domestic headlight ? She is the cleverest, 
pluckiest woman in two hemispheres, but the duties already bound 
upon her consume every waking hour. She has not a minute she 
can call her own. There isn’t a man in town who works so hard 
and so well.” 

The catechist—chivalrous and loyal gentleman—has all unwit¬ 
tingly flattened the base of the egg until it stands upright. The 
woman who fills nine important offices, as you declare this one dues, 



76 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


earns her living nine times over. The trouble is that as M. Jour- 
dain had been talking prose all his life and never knew it, you and 
Mary have never appreciated the truth that she is more than self- 
supporting. Face the fact like a man, and henceforth keep it well 
before her. Forego something of the complacent glow of consciou.s 
liberality, and accept, instead, the calm content of one who meets 
his notes when due. Or, consider that you two constitute a busi¬ 
ness firm, and pay over her share of equitable profits. The act is a 
just partition, not a gift. Don’t remind her, when you throw money 
into her lap with the gesture of a sultan to a favorite dancing-girl, 
that, although compelled to maintain her, you are so fond of her 
that you do not grudge the expense. Break yourself of the habit 
of alluding to family expenses as if she were individual!}^ respon¬ 
sible for them, aud for the family as well. Some excellent husbands 
fall into this tone. It is a trick of the trade easily caught, and 
about as fair as it would be to drag your wife into a morass and, 
when she is stuck fast in the mud, to thrash her with briers, because 
your boots are soiled by the operation. 

To epitomize the volume that might be penned on the theme 
without exhausting it:—the wife who acts well her part is as truly 
independent as is the husband. She has a right to have, to hold, 
aud to use as her own, a given share of the income. Her main¬ 
tenance, pin-money, etc., are debts due her, not benefactions you 
are to be praised for bestowing, and she grateful in receiving. Of 
these things she should be made aware wheu she enters the firm. 
A true woman will love and honor her partner the more for such 
frank uprightness. It is only she who is at heart a courtesan, who 
fawns upon her spouse for hire. 

But Solomon Grundy has a query: 

“ What do women know of business principles and methods ? ” 

As much—and as little—as their husbands choose to teach them. 









7^ • fellov/’^ • ov/»? 





















































































The Etiquette of Family Life. 


D uring a recent joume}^ b}'- rail from Boston to New York, 
niy attention was drawn to a couple whose seats in the 
drawing-room car were directly across the aisle from mine. 
One was a young girl, pretty, tastefully clad, and refined 
in tone and manner. Her escort was a few years her senior, good- 
looking, well-behaved, and apparently on terms of friendly intimacy 
with his fair companion. They chatted together blithely and 
naturally, with no show, on one side of coyness, or on the other 
of love-making. Their bright faces were a pleasant resting-place 
for other eyes as well as mine, as I soon became aware from a low- 
toned dialogue going on just behind me. 

“ Stunningly pretty girl,” said masculine accents. “And a 
lucky fellow.” 

“ He is apparently of the same opinion,” answered a woman’s 
voice. “Are they brother and sister—do you think ? ” 

“ He’s too devoted by half for that. I’ve been watching them 
all the way. He has picked up her fau three times, and never told 
her once that she was careless to drop it. Twice, he has offered to 
bring her a glass of water ; four times has he put up the window at 
stations, without waiting to be asked to do it; once, he inquired if 
the sun hurt her eyes, or was likely to give her a headache. Not a 
-sign of the fraternal in all this. Nor is she a whit more sisterly. 

79 



8o 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


The smile that thanks him for his attentions settles the question 
beyond a doubt. She’s another fellow’s sister, you may be sure.” 

“ Perhaps they are married ? ” 

“ Not unless this is their wedding trip. That sort of thing 
does’nt flourish after the honeymoon.” 

The question of relationship was not settled in my hearing. 

The incident is the text of my chapter on the amenities of 
everyday home-life. 

Is custom the parent of expectation, or does expectation beget 
the ill-favored custom of giving our second best, if not our worst 
things—to those we love most dearly and to whom we owe most ? 
Or—to put the query differently—do we satisfy ourselves with 
having deeded to them once for all, our choicest treasures of affect¬ 
ion, and, the oath of allegiance taken, hold that they should not 
exact further guaranty of the fact of possession ? 

Benjamin Franklin’s proposition that grace'said over the barrel 
at packing-time should do away with the tri-daily blessing of boiled 
or fried pork, forecast the passion for savings of all kinds which 
became his leading characteristic. In the matter of family polite¬ 
ness, tens of thousands of his fellow country people put the thrifty 
boy’s suggestion into daily practice. 

Mr. Philemon Nemo courted his Baucis with conventional assid¬ 
uity of devotion. As suitor and betrothed, he fell short in none of 
the tender arts, supposed by each newly affianced pair to be indige¬ 
nous to the Elysian groves in which they will henceforward have 
their permanent abiding place—whereby the lover sets his image 
in the highest niche of his mistress’ heart, and clamps it to the 
pedestal. His behavior in the various trying and delicate tests to 
which betrothal subjects the wooer who has won, earned the plaudits 
of relatives and neighbors. He lived, perfunctorily, yet eagerl}^ 
only in her smiles ; watched every turn of the eye, studied each trick 




THE ETIQUETTE OF FAMILY LIFE. 


8i 


of phrase and inflection, that he might meet her lightest want half 
way in the expression thereof. Pet names and caressing words 
distilled and flowed from his tongue as perfume from honeysuckle. 
When he stood with her at the altar, he heaped his earthly all— 
hopes, loves, life—a glad oblation—upon it. Courtship is defined 
by a social satirist “ as a period, long or short, agreeably spent by 
two people in deceiving one another to the best of their ability.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Ph. Nemo would have frowned down the bon mot 
as blasphemous on their marriage day. Fifteen years later, she 
smiles significantly—an arid, bitter meaning—at reading it, and he 
laughs, somewhat coarsely, in stumbling upon it in the “ funny 
column ” of the morning paper, “ guesses that is just about the 
ticket,” and inquires “ what the women in the house have been 
about all the morning, that his breakfast is not ready ? ” 

They have fallen by—to them—imperceptible degrees, into the 
matrimonal habit of speaking slightingly of romance and love. 
Neither, to do them justice, means any real disrespect to the other. 
In this sort of cant—I would still be just—the husband usually 
takes the initiative. It sounds “ knowing ” to affect to despise 
former enslavement, to regret bachelor freedom, to allude to himself 
as the victim of a passing weakness. In very jocose moments he 
talks of his courtship as “ temporary insanity.” It is all fun, 
however he may word it. Baucis might, by this time, be sure 
enough of his affection to understand his badinage. 

She ought to know, too, that when he objurgates the sloth¬ 
fulness of the “ women in the house,” he refers to the cook and 
waitress, and not to her flushed and nervous self, who, in pouring 
. out his coffee spills the boiling liquid on her hand. 

“ How can you be so careless ! ” he ejaculates, in serious concern, 
disguised under pretended displeasure. 


82 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


He takes as much trouble to mask his softer emotions at this 
date as he did to exhibit them in that “ insane ” long ago. The 
lover would have bounded to his feet and rushed off for healing 
lotion and bandages. The husband resumes the study of his paper 
when she has said, coldly, that “ it is a mere nothing,” wound her 
handkerchief about the scalded member, and given him another cup 
of coffee. The pretty foolishness of kissing the place to make it 
well is never thought of now by either. They “ have got beyond 
all that.” 

Baucis resigns and suffers more than Philemon in the exchange 
of sweet nonsense for matter-of-fact. Sometimes, she dreams over 
those vanished hours ; wonders, in that strange, awful constriction 
of heart women know so well, how her husband can ridicule the 
memory, as if it were an illusion. She could as soon make a jest 
of the loss of the little child that drew his first and last breath in 
one and the same day. Sentiment dies hard, even in commonplace 
women. If men knew how tender and warm the divine folly keeps 
their wives’ hearts, how it glorifies the humblest home and refines 
menial labor, they might, sometimes, out of sheer pity, forbear 
to mock. 

There are other children now. They come pelting in to break¬ 
fast, jostling one another in their hurry. The father lowers his 
paper to command them to “ stop their racket.” The mother frets 
that they are “ always late, and then impatient to be waited upon.” 
Nobody says “ good morning,” or asks after the health of the rest. 
The elder girl calls her mother’s notice to her small brother’s plate 
where griddle-cakes swim in a lake of butter and syrup. 

“ I’d be ashamed to be such a pig ! ” sneers the juvenile monitor, 
and is ordered by him to “ to hold her tongue! Who asked for her 
opinion ? ” The father gulps down his coffee and bolts his steak 
with both eyes on the columns of the morning iournal which is his 


THE ETIQUE'ITE OF FAMILY LIFE. ' 83 

substitute for cheerful table talk. When the bickerings or the 
teasing waxes loud, he throws in a sharp or heavy word, as he 
would shy a stone at quarrelsome hounds. His meal concluded, he 
kicks back his chair, remarks, not crossly, but as certainly not 
civilly, that he has no more time to waste, and takes himself off for 
the day without other farewell. 

The Nemo connection is extensive, and the branch we are 
describing highly respectable. 

It was my misfortune to be present when one of them asked his 
wife to bring a cup in which he could mix medicine for an ailing 
child. She brought a tumbler instead. 

“ What did I ask you for? ” demanded her lord harshly. 

“ I thought this would do as well, my dear,” said the gentle 
spouse. 

“You ‘ thought! ’ That is the way with you all. You are 
always thinkings instead of doing as you are told to do! When I 
say cup, I mean c Now^, go and get it! ” 

It was my worse luck to be one of those seated about a famil}’ 
board when the head of the house inquired of his. fair young 
daughter where an article which he named—a book, or penknife, or 
some such matter—had been put. 

On receiving her reply that she had not seen it, he broke into a 
turbulent torrent of abuse, in reprobation of her carelessness. 
“ What do you suppose I keep you in clothes and victuals and 
lodge you for? You and your sisters are as lazy and saucy a pack 
of bad rubbish as ever a man was cursed with,” was a clause of the 
peroration. Do I hear a murmur of “ brute ” and “ boor ? ” Will 
the verdict be reconsidered when I affirm that the speaker was an 
officer in a prominent church, and bore the reputation of being an 
estimable, affectionate husband and father ? Let it be understood 
that I introduce here no fancy sketches, and draw my illustrations 


84 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


from “ good society.” The worst happening of this evil complexion 
that ever befell me was was when “ a perfect Christian gentleman,” 
high in public office, informed his wife in my hearing, that “ any 
one who made the wdllful mistake” of which he had just adjudged 
her to be guilty “ w'as an unmitigated and malicious fooiy 

I know—few better—how intemperate expressions escape the 
tongue at the lash of anger, but these are invariably in the 
vernacular of the irate speaker. The man who has never uttered 
an oath will not let fly a volley of profane ejaculations, let the 
provocation he never so great. There is a wide world of difference 
between the fault-finding of the mistress in whose mouth the law 
of kindness has a familiar abiding place, and the loud tirade of her 
who has been elevated by sudden riches to “ eat from the dish she 
late had ’washed.” There may be, as one of the sex avers, “ a 
savage in every man,” but he is not bom full-grown, war-paint on, 
and club in hand. It was obvious in each of the scenes I have 
outlined that this was not the first outbreak, by many, of the Nemo 
barbarian. His leap was too sure, his bellow too loud for a 
trial-effort. 

It is with shame and regret, that, in obedience to the law of 
stern impartiality I have laid down for my conduct in the present 
writing, I confess to having heard more than once, women of birth 
and breeding call their husbands “ fools,” not in sport, but in very 
determined earnest ; that, now and then, ^a sweet-voiced girl, 
regardless of the presence of others besides “ the family,” refuses 
flatly to obey her parents, saying, “ I won’t! ” and “ I shant! ” as 
tartly as if she had been born in a ditcher’s hovel and had her 
training in the slums. Most vividly do I recall the shock of a 
repoof administered by a model daughter to her gray-haired father 
whose version of a story differed from hers: 

“ You only make yourself ridiculous by such absurd talk,” she 






















































































































































1 



THE ETIQUETTE OF FAMILY LIFE. 87 

said judicially. “ At your time of life oue ought to have some 
regard for the truth.” 

She loved her father dearly; was his nurse, amanuensis, 
housekeeper—his main stay, prop and anchor. But I doubt not that 
the vitriol of her rebuke burned as hotly as if she had been none 
of these. The number of times I have known sisters to bandy 
compliments on the eminent propriety of each minding her own 
business, is hardly surpassed by that of the “ snubs ” administered 
by sisters to brothers, and the interchange of the yet more spicy 
courtesies between brothers. Lack of room and strength, not to 
mention common decency, forbid the expose. Everybody is familiar 
with the truth and the superabundant examples of it. ‘ It is of a 
piece with the code which enjoins a distinction which is more than 
a difference between “ company ” and every day manners, and even 
keeps back grammatical speech for such occasions as visits and 
visitors. 

“Not a sign of the fraternal in all this ! ” said the astute 
railway critic, in summing up the civilities extended by the young 
man to his compagno 7 i de voyage. 

The inference is patent. In the like circumstances, the brother 
would have sat in his revolving chair, his back to his sister, and 
jerked monosyllables over his shoulder in response to her queries; 
have waited to be asked for the glass of ice water, then, brought it 
ungraciously. He would not have bethought himself of her 
possible desire to get a breath of fresh air at every station, or that 
the snn might be oppressive. The tokens of their common 
humanity would have been reserved for “ another fellow’s sister.” 

We have not to deal now with the fact of natural affection, still 
less with the question of conjugal fidelity. These are presupposed 
in the assertion that we take too much for granted in our intercourse 
v\dth those of our own blood and households. The seed of the ugly 


88 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


weed is planted wlien tlie newly made husband remits, for the first 
time, a polite office to his wife which he would blush to remit were 
she his guest, or mere acquaintance. One of two things is wTong: 
—the painstaking devotion of the suitor, or the nonchalance of the 
married man. If it was Philemon’s bounden duty and delight, 
before wedlock, to pick up the handkerchief of Baucis, to set a chair 
for her at her entrance into the room where he was sitting, to hand 
her in and out of carriages and up stairs, to spare her heavy lifting 
and needless steps, to be urbane in tone and language—in short, to 
testify in action to the world of his love and respect for the woman 
he has chosen to bear his name and share his fortunes—it is his 
duty (even without the flavoring of delight), to treat her in the 
same manner for the entire period of their united lives. 

Wives have a responsibilit}' in this respect which they are too 
apt to ignore, or to shirk when it is admitted. There is much 
written now-a-days of the propriety of mothers “ keeping themselves 
up ” for the sake of their children. If wives do not keep their 
lords up in what are not the trivialities of courteous attention to 
themselves, they (the wives) will go without these in the end. 
There is something sadly demoralizing in the sudden or slow slip 
of the band on the wheel, when the bride and bridegroom days are 
accomplished, and the petted angel drops into, “ only my wife.” 

I have called this lapse the seed of the ugly plant which is of 
rapid growth, and as ineradicable, if once rooted, as pursley and 
rag-weed. Philemon saunters into his wife’s boudoir, hands in 
pocket, hat on head, cigar in mouth, with never a thought of saying 
“ By your leave,” or “ Excuse me.” He pushes before her in 
passing out or entering a room ; sits down to the table in his shirt 
sleeves and cleans his nails in the parlor when nobody (Baucis 
counting as a cipher) is by. If Baucis wishes to attend theater, 
concert, or lecture, to drive, or walk, or sail, the proposition, in five 


THE ETIQUETTE OF FAMILY LIFE. 89 

cases out of ten, comes from her, not him. With his ante-nuptial 
apprenticeship in what the French have named “ less petits soinsp 
he has gone out of the business. If it is kept up, it is the wife 
who continues it at the old stand. 

Children catch the tone of their elders. The sons caricature 
their bluff sire, and are bullies or boors in their association with 
mother and sisters, suave courtiers in “ society.” The daughters 
refine upon their mother’s self-defensiveness, and and become sar¬ 
castic adepts in the science of “ taking the boys down.” 

In many households, this order of things is considered altogether 
natural, and not reprehensible. 

“ What a bore you people must find it to be always on your 

% 

p''s and q's at home! ” said an outspoken woman to one who was 
not of the average Nemo clan. “ Yon are never e 7 i dishabille^ in 
behavior, to each other, mince your words and fine down your 
phrases in famil}^ talk as if you were afraid of your own flesh and 
blood. Now, we brothers and sisters speak right out whatever we 
think and feel,—quarrel all around and make friends every day of 
onr lives.” 

Many more men and woman, not belonging to the order of 
Pachydermata—suffer, first and last, with an intensity their associ¬ 
ates cannot appreciate from what may be termed the toss-and-tumble 
style of home life. Wives and sisters may not complain audibly 
when they are left to help themselves to daily bread from crockery 
platters while other fellows’ sisters and wives are served on bended 
knee from garnished porcelain. But they see, and feel, and think. 
Husbands may appreciate the sterling worth of wives whose hands 
and brains toil unrestingly in the service of their families, and 
brothers repeat emphatically to themselves that sisters who appear 
to revel in opportunities of taking the wind out of their sails, are 
thoroughly good girls, and would go through fire and water for the 


90 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


boys they rail at as “ cubs ” and “ rowdies.” “ We understand each 
other,” one and all would protest were an outsider to censure their 
language as unkind, or to intimate that the son who accosts his 
mother with, “ Hallo,” old girl! ” or the daughter who interrupts 
her father with, “ You dont know what you are talking about!” 
strains to snapping the commandment to honor parents. 

The toss-and-tumbler is fond of pleading “ his way ” in extenu¬ 
ation of boorish deportment and brusque speech. I know whole 
families whose “ ways ” are so many pet hedgehogs, pampered at 
home, and imperfectly leashed abroad. They jumble the boast of 
intrinsic excellence with the parade of external deformity, until 
weak minds confuse the two. The human pig-nut is, oftener than 
otherwise, like the ‘ vegetable product of the same name—bitter- 
hearted when one has dragged it out of the tough, thick shell. 

It is as easy to be sincere and sweet, as to be sincere and sour. 
Hearts are not won and kept so much by the exercise of the sterner 
virtues as by the constant practice of loving consideration for the 
feelings, gentlest patience with the foibles of those with whom our 
daily lot is cast. Common-sense ought to have proved to us by this 
time that oil is a better lubricator of domestic machinery than 
vinegar. May I offer to the younger members of the home circle 
a simple rule of action that will reduce to a minimum the friction of 
daily living, even with those whose individuality is as pronounced, 
whose views are as independent as your own ? A caution that will 
spare you many a stormy scene, and, perchance, avert the heart¬ 
break of unavailing remorse ? 

Do 7iot say a rough word when a smooth one will serve your 
purpose as well. Before indulging in retort, or sly thrust or deadly 
“crusher”—whatever the provocation—ask yourself: “ Would I 
wish this unsaid if I were never to behold his living face again ? ” 



The Vexed Question—Domestic Service in 

America. 

N English journal remarks in the course of a review of an 
American manual of cookery: “ One thing which im- 

I * presses the British reader as strange and even droll, is 
^ that the presence of the mistress in the kitchen and 

her active co-operation in the business of cooker}^ are taken 
for granted. Yet there must be some servants in the United 
States.” Making the marginal annotation of an interrogation 
point over the last sentence, I digress to observe that if the 
testimony of English books and papers be admitted, the ques¬ 
tion of what Punch styles “ servantgalism,” is a knotty one in 
the Mother Country, where social and caste-lines are sharply drawn, 
and the existence of a lower class is not disputed by those who belong 
to it. On the continent, the problem is not only knotty, but 
prickly. Two or three times in a century, it bristles with pikes 
and butcher-knives, a complication which, fortunately, does not 
enter into our discussion of our own puzzle of domestic ser\dce. 
“ System,” it cannot be called. Even as a dissected pattern, it is 
unsatisfactory. It is a construction of iron and clay, and the 
attrition of the parts must work confusion. 

To return to our iuterro*gation-point;—Have we, as a nation, 
any domestic servants ? 

9t 







92 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Every public functionary, from constable up to the Chief Magis¬ 
trate of the Union, is proud to call himself the servant of the 
people. “ Ich die7i ”—“ I serve ” is the motto surmounted by the 
three white feathers in the crest of the heir to the British throne. 
“ Let the greatest among you be your servant,” said the Prince of 
princes, who took upon Himself the form of a servant. 

In our Christian land and age, we weakly evade the obvious 
truth that if some are to be served, there must be others whose 
part it is to render that service. Having yielded to a certain—or 
uncertain—class the names of “ lady ” and “ gentleman,” and taken 
up for ourselves and made honorable the titles of “ man ” and 
“ woman,” we carry amiable forbearance a step further in recog¬ 
nizing as “ helps,” and most frequently as “ girls,” inferiors in birth, 
station and culture, whom we hire and wheedle to do such daily 
tasks as will leave us free to discharge aright duties which they are 
incapable of performing. I wonder the real American girl does not 
protest passionately against her dispossession of a royal title. It 
is amusing, and pitiable, to hear a fond mother extricate herself 
from the mesh of misunderstanding induced by her mention of “my 
girls.” Unless interpreted by the immediate context, the listeners 
cannot determine whether she has in mind the accomplished queens 
of the drawing-room, or the illiterate despots of the kitchen. In 
fact, our daughters have been doubly robbed. As “ young ladies,” 
they went out of being more than a decade ago. “ We girls,” sug¬ 
gests, to all except the readers of the charming volume bearing 
that title, the conclave below-stairs, sitting in judgment upon the 
multifarious iniquities of the Anonyma everywhere known to the 
guild as “ Her,” and “ She.” For, if the daughter be shorn of her 
titles, the mother is beggared utterly—reduced to a pronoun, and 
a monosyllable. 


DOMESTIC SERVICE IN AMERICA. 


93 

There are no more mistresses than there are servants. If the 
reader would verify the statement, let her use the brace of obnox¬ 
ious words in the hearing of Bridget, Katrine, or the dusky-cheeked 
Victoria-Columbia-Celeste of the present generation. 

(Let it be noted that the middle-aged mother or aunt of the 
smart colored damsel furnishes us with the best “ help ” to be had 
in this, or any other country, and speaks of herself and her 
congeners in her honest self-respect, as “ servants.”) 

English Phillis enters the service for which she has been trained, 
as scullery-maid, and works her way steadily up to the station of cook, 
then housekeeper. The summit of her ambition is reached when 
the united savings of herself and the butler warrant them in marry¬ 
ing and setting up for themselves in the public house, or genteel 
lodging business. 

English Abigail usually obtains, besides the education given in 
the village school, some knowledge of dressmaking and of hair¬ 
dressing, before she ventures to apply for a place as lady’s maid. 
Once established in this capacity, her aim is to keep a good home, 
with the prospect of higher wages as time develops her talents. 
Being better educated and more refined than Phillis, she is not so 
likely to marry, unless tempted to change a position she feels to be 
eminently respectable by the blandishments of a handsome valet, 
or the solid worth of some thrifty shop-keeper. 

“ Service ” with these women is as truly a trade as millinery. • 
It is a lift in the social scale for the daughters of the day-laborer, 
a safe and desirable settlement for the children of the small farmer 
and mechanic. 

On this side of the ocean, Bridget, Katrine, and Victoria-Colum¬ 
bia-Celeste—who, on calling to see if she will hire you as a tempor¬ 
ary^ employer, gives her name as “ Miss ” Howard, or Halyburton, 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


94 

or Hamilton—are “ living-out-girls.” This is the utmost degree of 
servitude they will acknowledge. 

A young woman who “ lived out ” in my family as child’s nurse 
for eight years, was once obliged to introduce to me a relative newly 
arrived from Ireland. As is well-known, those who have lived here 
long enough to learn the ways of an independent republic hide the 
“ granehorns ” from stranger eyes until the bog-moss is, in a 
measure, rubbed off. But I happened to enter the kitchen 
while the stranger sat there in linsey petticoat and short 
gown, hob-nailed brogans and cotton cap, and Ellen had no choice 
but to name “ me mother’s sister, mem.” While I asked how she 
had borne the voyage and bade her welcome, the worthy creature 
dropped her dame-school courtesy with every bashful reply—the 
niece growing redder at each obeisance. That evening, she came to 
my room to apologize for her kinswoman’s “ quare behavior.” 

“ It’s a thrick as is ’tached ’em at home, mem, where there’s the 
raal quality and all that. They soon larn better nor to do it here. 
Och ! ”—the Irish temper flashing up—“ It makes me that mad to 
see a woman dhrop a curchy in Ameriky, I could kill her! It’s a 
shame and a disgrace in a free-an’-aiqual country.” 

With this free-and-equal theory, the mistress (nominally), is 
handicapped throughout her association with her underlings who 
repudiate wrathfully the thought of subordination. It is the germ 
of the prejudice against entering any household except as the 
controller thereof, which fills our kitchens and nurseries with mal¬ 
content Arabs. The woman who can earn a living in no other wav, 
sees in this incapacity a manifest call to take up the cross of 
“ living out.” Stiff and stumpy fingers that cannot sew are deemed 
equal to the manufacture of the dainty entremets we covet (and do 
not get) as variations of homely fare. The brain that cannot com¬ 
pass the mysteries of a trade, can carry weights and measures^ 


















































































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DOMESTIC SERVICE IN AMERICA. 


97 


and concoct soups and desserts. O! these “ plain cooks ! ” how 
rough and crooked they make the daily walk of faint and fagged 
housewife ! It is not worth the trouble of saying that such bunglers 
further degrade the work they have taken up as a/A alter. It is 
drudgery, and a hateful bondage to them ; far more irksome than to 
the mistress whose fine, clear sense discerns that nothing is com¬ 
mon or unclean to willing hands, nothing slavish to the earnest 
spirit. 

Is the situation hopeless ? Beyond a doubt, unless, as a prelim- 
inar}^ measure to the making of servants, we make mistresses. The 
only independent American housekeeper is she who understands 
her profession and her position. As the corner-stone of both, 
dignify them yourself. Whatever you may think of the principle 
involved in Mrs. Whitney’s eloquent remonstrance against woman’s 
suffrage, you must perceive matter for thought, as well as amuse¬ 
ment, in the sketched “ May-be ” that follows: 

“Perhaps it may even be discovered, to the still further detriment 
of our already painfully hampered and perplexed domestic system, 
that pursuit of fun, votes, or ofSces, is more remunerative, as well as 
more gentlewomanly,—as Micawber might express it—than the cleans¬ 
ing of pots and pans, the weekly -wash or the watching of the roast. 
Perhaps in that enfranchised day there will be no Katies and Mag¬ 
gies, and the Norahs will know their place no more. Then the 
enlightened womanhood may have to begin at the foundation, and 
glorify the kitchen again. And good enough for her, in the wide, 
as well as primitive sense of the phrase, and a grand turn in the 
history that repeats itself toward the old, forgotten, peaceful side of 
the cycle, it may be.” 

Establish iu your own mind that house-keeping is a distinct and 
important line of business, and that you are the firm which has the 
conducting of your “ establishment.” If you choose to let your 


98. 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


husband audit accounts, do so. Should you, as age advances or 
cares thicken, admit a daughter as junior partner, need may justify 
the step. On no acconnt alter the standing of a paid, uneducated 
subordinate with regard to yonr authority and right. There is no 
necessary hireling, or should be none in a house where the mistress 
has health and intelligence. The onl}’- indispensable member 
of the corporation is the head. Whatever may be the excellences of 
your faithful and attached servant, she is your inferior in mental 
discipline and judgment, if you are fit for the place you hold. To con¬ 
sult her as a peer; to suffer her j udgment to bear down yours habitu¬ 
ally ; to commit the control of any department of the household 
absolutely to her, is to cast off the belt that steadies a wheel of the 
machine. In strength, in swift, even motion, it may be all you 
could desire, may seem more essential to the progress of the work 
in hand than the band encompassing it. But let the latter break, 
or slip, and the wild whirl, aimless, if not disastrous, is a significant 
type of that domestic interior where amiability, or indolence, or mis¬ 
taken judgment leads to a transfer of the balance of power. 

Close upon the heels of the resolution to be commander-in-chief 
of your household forces, should come the recognition of others in 
a similar capacity in their respective homes. This is not corollary, 
but a step in the solution of the problem. A crying need in our free 
country is the organization of a Harry Wadsworth Club of house¬ 
wives whose “ lend a hand ” shall be a living bond of union. As 
matters now stand, each so-not-called mistress is a free lance with 
relation to other nominal heads of households. With a few 
honorable exceptions, every matron engages cook, housemaid, 
laundress and—most important of all—child’s nurse, without heed 
to the reputation she has borne in her last situation. If a form of 
investigation is made, the “ girl ” holds the winning card from the 
first. 


DOMESTIC SERVICE IN AMERICA. 


99 


“ An’ shure, yez is the furrest pairson as iver had the face to ax 
me for the loike! ” spluttered an ornament to the culinary profes¬ 
sion when I inquired innocently if she had credentials of character 
and ability. “ I sez the one thing to all thim as applies for me. 
Take me or lave me ! sez I. But I won’t demane mesilf by askin 
nor showin’ a stiff-ticket to plase no woman in Ameriky.” 

When the independent freewoman condescends to exhibit her 
ca-racter ” or submits to the greater indignity of a visit of inquiry 
to her late employer, the information elicited has no weight in the 
decision of the question, if it be adverse to the questioner’s desire 
to “ get in the new girl ” as soon as possible and be rid of the 
bother of “ changing.” We change often enough to get used to the 
national “ bother,” one might think, yet it is a disagreeable business 
whenever it occurs. Let me illustrate : 

Early in my housewifely life, I dismissed a cook for good and 
sufficient reasons. She asked for a certificate to the effect that she 
eould wash and iron tolerably well, and I gave it, subjoining 
voluntarily, that she was honest and obliging. We parted with 
expressions of mutual good-will, and I supposed our intercourse 
was at an end. Not that my conscience was tranquil. The plausible 
certificate told only half the truth. Would not some confiding 
fellow housekeeper have the right to accuse me of fraud when she 
should discover for herself why the woman who was a good cook 
and fair laundress, whose temper was excellent, against whose 
sobriety and honesty there was no impeachment, was discharged 
from my service ? But veterau managers had taught me that the 
superior should lean to the merciful side in dealing with underlings. 
The servant was dependent upon her reputation for her living. 
What Christian woman would imperil the poor thing’s chances of 
getting an honest support ? 


lOO 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


The impersoual aspect of the affair was dissipated by a call from 
a neighbor whom I liked extremely. My quondam cook had 
presented her credentials, and my friend had “ run around to find 
out all about her before engaging Margaret.” 

The “ all ” was that the woman was disgustingly and incurably 
untidy, and careless beyond compare. Superadded to these faults 
was a habit of staying out late every night, and leaving a door or 
blind unfastened that she might return unperceived. Once, she 
had set a curtain on fire with a match as she crept in at the dining¬ 
room window; another time, a policeman had come up to the second 
story at one o’clock A. M., to say that the front door was ajar. On 
a third occasion, finding every other avenue closed, she had gone 
home with a girl whose employer lived in our block; walked on the 
roof until she reached the sky-light in ours, and descended through 
the scuttle, awakening the chambermaid by a misstep. The latter’s 
screams at the approach of the supposed burglar alarmed the 
household and betra5^ed Margaret’s ruse. She had a genius, 
furthermore, for breaking valuables. A rough computation of her 
performances in this line showed that she had, in six months, cost 
us, beside board and wages, $150. 

I stated these facts to my friend without reserve, but when 
three or four others called on the same errand, I modified the story 
as far as was consistent with truth, not wishing to hurt Margaret’s 
prospects of getting a good home. To each visitor I said that the 
woman had excellent points, and might do well with a more strict 
manager than myself. 

Finally, I was astounded by the apparition of Margaret herself. 
She burst into my presence, a cyclone in calico, her eyes red with 
fury. “ I want to know why I can’t get a place when oncet the 
wimmen has been to sqq yotc / ” she vociferated. “ It’s no leddy ye 
are to be takin’ the bread out of an honest girl’s mouth! ” 


DOMESTIC SERVICE IN AMERICA. 


lOI 


As I have said, I was inexperienced, honest in intention and in 
action, and imagined that I had no alternative bnt to tell the truth 

I 

when appealed to directly by a sister housekeeper. I have learned, 
since then, that my conduct was sufficiently extraordinary, accord¬ 
ing to American usage, to warrant Margaret’s frenzied protest. 

An acquaintance once expressed to me her satisfaction that a 
hidy who had called to inquire into the character of a cook had not 
touched upon the subject of honesty. 

“ The girl lived with me, four years, and I trusted her more 
than I shall ever trust another,” she said. “At last, we discovered 
that she was robbing us systematically, and allowing suspicion to 
rest upon an innocent person. Her trunk was full of stolen hand¬ 
kerchiefs, napkins, stockings, etc.,—belonging to my daughters and 
myself. We searched it before her eyes, and sent her out of the 
house. I charged her not to give me as a reference, but it seems 
she has done it. The cool assurance of the act made me so indig¬ 
nant that I was tempted to tell just why I discharged the creature. 
Then I reflected that it would be mean and unkind to min a work¬ 
ing-woman, and held my tongue. I praised her neatness, industry, 
cooking, and so on, until the new mistress went off persuaded that 
she has a treasure.” 

The virtuous and purblind complacency with which this state¬ 
ment was offered would have stmek me dumb with admiration had 
the exhibition been less common. 

On the rare occasions when I have been obliged to make changes 
in the domestic corps, I have adhered to the rule of calling on a 
former employer, believing that it is the only safe and honorable 
thing to do. In nine cases out of ten, I have been assured directly, 
or by insinuation, that my action was eccentric and quite 
unnecessary. In ten cases out of ten, there was the slightest 
possible allusion to the imperfections of the late incumbent 


102 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


consistent with a belief in human frailty. It is manifestly a matter 
of form and charity to give clean papers to every applicant. There 
is an immense reserve of amiability in mortal men and women, 
unsuspected and immeasurable depths of it in the maligned native 
housewife, when her help has once quitted her service,—but it all 
runs in one channel. 

I write down deliberately the conviction that if there were in the 
ranks of housekeepers one-half of the class-spirit that prevails 
among those we employ. The Vexed Question would right itself in 
less than one generation. None of ns affect to ignore the existence 
of the informal, but mighty trades’ union of domestics. In every 
community, the understanding between those who compose this 
nameless association is thorough. Your home-rules, the work 
expected of each hireling, the wages paid, the “ privileges ” accorded 
—are as well known as if daily proclamation were made of them at 
street corners. Let a situation in your house get the name of a 
“ hard place,” and you may resign all reasonable hope of stabilit}^ 
and peace below-stairs. Were you an angel of love and mercy, 
trials and tribulations await you, and may not be averted. None 
save indifferent servants can be tempted to cross j^our threshold, 
and they often tarry (literally) but a night. The abhorrent ^^Sfua/l 
Pox ” placard affixed to the panels of the front door would scarcely 
be more effectual in keeping aloof those you would fain have 
the opportunity to treat equitably and kindly. 

The “ hard mistress’ ” reputation spreads fast and far, and is— 
alas ! too easily earned. The incompetent, slothful, dishonest, dirty 
servant may, if it pleases her whim, live in every house in every 
block in every street of your town, if the one means of checking 
her ravages be a candid, fearless description of her works and ways, 
written or oral, furnished from her “ last place.” 


DOMESTIC SERVICE IN AMERICA. 


lO^ 

In all this we are untrue to each other, to ourselves, and to our 
order. If the “ girl ” found it impossible to get a new situation 
without a satisfactory testimonial of character and qualifications 
from a former employer, she would think twice before marching off 
without giving an hour’s warning. If the employer felt her honor 
as a woman, her credit as a housekeeper involved, when she writes 
out the paper which is to transfer one she knows to be disagreeable 
or inefficient to another’s home, she would choose words and phrases 
with care. “The usual thing” would not run so glibly from her 
pen, nor the omission of the weightier matters of the law of neigh¬ 
borly kindness be so ingeniously slurred over. There is nothing 
inhuman in the truth in such circumstances. Dishonesty, ungovern¬ 
able temper, immorality-are curses we ought to shun for our 
friends, as for ourselves. We break the second great command¬ 
ment when we suffer, by default, the virus to enter other homes. 
In this sense every one of us is—whether she admits it or not—her 
sister’s keeper. 

It is impossible in the space of a single chapter to present more 
than a few features of this many-headed subject. I can add but a 
word of caution to those who demand a paragon in every hireling. 
It often happens that the servant who suits you will not fill the 
measure of your next-door neighbor’s requirements, and vice versa. 
In the frank interchange of query and reply respecting recommenda¬ 
tion and disadvantage, take this into consideration. If Abigail’s 
faults are not vices, and Phillis’ drawbacks are such as may be over¬ 
come by patience and judicious training, it may be a wise experi¬ 
ment to try her, and thus indulge the national (feminine) propensity 
to give the “ girl ” all the odds compatible with the preservation of 
the lives, liberties and sacred honor of the benevolent employer and 
her household. 



Why Monday? 

I T is humiliating to one in whose creed the tenet that “ Life is 
growth ” finds place, to acknowledge how many things are 
done by civilized, intelligent beings for no better reason than 
because everybody else does them. 

“ Why have you not introduced the luggage-check into your 
railway system ? ” I asked an Hnglishman, at the Paddington 
Station in London. 

Cabmen, porters, valets, waiting-maids, foreign and domestic 
passengers, were stirred up into a seething mass of anxious impati¬ 
ence, awaiting the identification of each separate box and portman- 
tean. The thought was inevitable, the query irrepressible. 

The average Briton has, at home and abroad, always on hand a 
patent repeater, loaded and self-cocking, when the institutions of his 
native island are criticised. 

It is not customary in Kngland, you know,” was all I got for 
my inconvenient inquisitiveness. 

Have we any better reason for not changing our National wash- 
day ? Freeing our minds of prejudice and tradition, let us ask if 
any other working-day, unless it be Saturday, could be less con¬ 
venient for the purpose to which we dedicate (or degrade) the first 
in the line of descent from Sabbatical heights ? 


104 








BETSY ON MOKIDAY 














































































































WHY MONDAY? 


107 


Setting an argument which maybe called “ a light weight,” fore¬ 
most, we must acknowledge that the close proximity of the steam, 
strain, stress, and general “ stew ” of washing-day to the holy calm 
of Sunday’s rest and worship offends the artistic sense. The linking 
together of the two is a palpable misfit, and harshly inharmonious. 

IMother Goose’s implication in regard to this discordant element 
of everyday prose is, as is often her way, more pregnant than her 
actual assertion: 


“ As Tommy Snooks and Betsey Brooks 
Were walking out one Sunday, 

Says Tommy Snooks to Betsey Brooks, 
‘ To-morrow will be Monday.’ ” 


Poor Tommy! The revolt of. the poetic nature under the 
encroachment of the barrenly-realistic upon exaltation of soulful 
imagination was never more succinctly uttered. Betsey, in her Sunday 
rig, a bonnet on her head, instead of a cap, a sprig of southernwood in 
her belt; clean cotton gloves hiding the toil-marred hands,—is such 
a different being from Betsey in pattens, with apron rolled up to the 
waist, and sleeves pinned back to her shoulders, her face interlined 
with worry, and blowsy with the vapor of hot suds, that the lover 
may well recoil from the vision. 

His jeremiad may go on file with Moore’s: 

“ All that’s bright must fade. 

The brightest still the fleetest.” 


The abrupt change from Sunday to Monday is a putting-out, at 
a breath, of a holy flame, not a flicker or fading. Like the instanta¬ 
neous nightfall that comes in the tropics with the sinking of the 
sun, it is bad for eyes and spirit. Seriously, it is strange that 
physical economists have not long ago condemned this “ customary” 


io8 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


overloading of the second day of the week as a violation of a prime 
principle which declares the danger of sudden and violent extremes. 
In most families in this Christian land, Sunday is the happiest day 
of the seven—a period of serene relaxation, of home-comfort and 
religious enjoyment. In the time when imprisonment for debt was 
lawful and common, the creditor could not seize the body of his 
debtor between Saturday midnight and the same hour of Sunday 
night. A like immunity from business cares and solicitudes falls 
with the dawn of the Blessed Day upon weary head and eyes. For 
twenty-four hours, the wolf is out of sight of the door. The house¬ 
wife crosses her aching wrists, and has leisure to bethink herself of 
the eternal Sabbath in the land where she will get “ rested out.” 
The household machinery runs without creak or jar; or, if there 
are faults she overlooks them, “ because it is Sunday.” Even our 
Puritan grandmothers thought it wrong to whip naughty children 
on Sunday—perhaps from some shadowy and unacknowledged asso¬ 
ciation with the threshing-floor—but the little sinners reaped the 
benefit of the scruple until the interest was compounded, according 
to the Puritan method of computation, on Black Monday. 

It must be as injurious to health as to temper to tighten every 
screw, and crowd on all steam while the soft languor of the rest- 
day still lingers in the soul and body. Monday morning bounds in 
upon us like a frosty snap in early autumn, or late spring. We 
are never ready for it. 

Saturday is the Peter robbed that the Paul of Monday may not 
actually suffer for the necessaries of existence. Marketing is done 
for three days, and cooking also, in many households where the 
cook is likewise the laundress. The remains of Sunday’s dinner 
do coldly set forth the morrow’s table. If there be a shadow of the 
chilly shade left over for Tuesday, the house-mother accounts it 
economy. 


WHY MONDAY? 


109 


The children, spoiled for work by two days “ off,” recognize as an 
important element in the general hatefulness of Blue Monday, the 
hurried breakfast, at which the freshest bread is thirty-six hours 
old, and the hash of Saturday’s inevitable corned beef is as sure to 
be at the foot of the board, as the pre-occupied face they hardly 
know for that of the genial father of yesterday. “ Mother ” is 
still more business-full than her partner. This is, for her, the field 
day of the week, and she has neither word nor caress to waste. 
Luncheon, or the early dinner, brings no respite. The father, if he 
be wise, takes his down town. The children miss the orderly 
waiting, the dainty desserts of other days ; the mother is too busy 
to know what she eats. Lessons go worse on Monday than at any 
other time. Tempers and nerves would be soothed by the 
reasonable anticipation of a bountiful repast in amends for the 
indifferent breakfast, but the dejected home-comers know better 
than to expect it. Warmed-overs, pick-ups, and make-shifts go 
as naturally with wash-day as the odor of yellow soap-suds and the 
steam-crumpled hands of the sulky waitress. 

That was a wisely-sweet device of a mother whom I once knew, 
who made it a rule and practice to go into the kitchen herself on 
Monday, and prepare savory entrees or delicate desserts, selecting 
the favorite dishes of husband and children in turn. It was her 
opportunity for trying new recipes, and there was a pretence of 
mystery about the bill-of-fare that brought the participants in the 
feast to it with eager, smiling faces and merry tongues. It was the 
only household I ever saw where Monday was heartily welcomed. 
The knowledge that the mamma’s dainty surprises were the 
expression of her resolution to lift her charges above the reach of 
the soapy surf, lent sentiment and poetry to the material comforts 
of her providing. 


no 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Wiser still is she who dares on this question to think, decide 
and act for herself: to do all that one woman can to remove the 
odiuni from the luckless day by shifting the fardel, and dividing 
the weight. It seems so rationally expedient to attempt this, that 
we are astounded at our own slowness of apprehension and the 
narrowness of mind which indisposes us to a beneficent innovation. 

Eittle housework is done on Sunday, less than on any other day of 
the seven. If ever a room is dusted carelessly, a bed made up “with 
a lick and a promise,” as our black mammies used to say, books 
and papers tossed aside to be put to rights by-and-by—this is the 
time. “ Father and boys ” spend the day at home. It is needless 
to enter into particulars of such occupation, or to sketch the house 
they leave behind them in their Monday morning flight. Nothing is 
where it was at nightfall on Saturday night; but who is to restore 
order? Mamma’s execution of “ up-stairs work” is as if one hand 
were tied behind her. The maids have no time to think of anything 
but “ getting out the clothes.” With more to do in her special depart¬ 
ment than at any other season, the head of the establishment is crip¬ 
pled in power. Should she emulate my heroine, and supplement the 
typical wash-day dinner (with what groanings are the words uttered 
and heard !) by toothsome manufacture of her own devising, the menu 
is restricted by the pre-emption on the part of the boiler of the top of 
the range, and the moral and material disorganization of the lower 
regions—which then, if ever, deserve their name. The ovens are 
out of temper; dressers are crowded with pans of starch ; piles of 
wrung-out clothes in big baskets stand about on chairs; the priestess 
of the abhorrent rites is damp and dangerous. 

Our “ brave lady ” of the future will apply the screw tactfully 
which is to bring herself and household up to washing-day ten¬ 
sion. Monday’s breakfast will be excellent and nicely cooked, 
and not slurred over with loins girt for a start, and staff in hand. 


WHY MONDAY? 


Ill • 


The maids fresh from yesterday’s surcease of labor, will be in 
spirits and bodily case for a thorough sweeping, dusting and setting 
to rights of the whole house. Luncheon-time will find everything 
in place. That meal and dinner will be of materials bought and 
prepared for this especial occasion, and of quality that will revive ' 
the hearts of lesson-learners in whose mind the trail of tasks, con¬ 
ned on Saturday, got cold over Sunday. The soiled linen will be 
brought down stairs in the afternoon, sorted, and if need be, mendM, 
then the white things be put to soak. Supplies of soap, starch, 
bluing, etc., will be inspected and laid ready to hand; bread baked 
and a custard or pudding or cream, or blanc-mange, prepared for the 
morrow; and the servants, always up later on Sunday night than 
any other, because of outings and “ company,” be sent early to bed 
to be ready for Tuesday’s wash. The whole system—mental, moral, 
and physical—will be brought up naturally and gradually to the 
wrestle with the omnipresent, haunting demon of civilization— 
Dirt. 




(t 


Lady.” 


S OME words are inherently vulgar; some are dragged into 
vulgarity by association ; some have vulgarity thrust upon 
them. To this latter class belongs the pretty dissylable 
which stands as the caption of this article. 

Everybody knows where we got it. “ Eoaf-giver,” or “ loaf- 
server,” in the Saxon, described the mistress of manor or castle, 
whose was the dispensing power and office. The title brings up 
ancient and gracious pictures to the mind. The rude, abundant 
hospitality of the Saxon “ franklin ” owed its every softening 
feature * to the presence at the board of the stately woman whose 
rule in kitchen and bower-room was as strict, yet gentler than that 
of her lord in hall and court-yard. We dream, as we speak the 
words “ hlaf^ and “ digan^'' of the fair Eettice, wife of Prince Guy 
of Warwick, who for twenty, say some—others, forty years— 
superintended the feeding at her castle gate of all the poor who 
would come, none receiving less than a loaf apiece ; of Elizabeth of 
Hungary, and the apronful of loaves that became roses to her 
husband’s scrutiny—a story we never tire of hearing; of Katherine 
Parr’s sweet, dark eyes glistening with tears at the thanks of her 
pensioners ; of our own New England ancestresses, in high heels, 
powder, hoop and farthingale, looking wisely after the ways of the 
households, yet receiving and holding, until within this century, 

II2 
































































































































































































V 



“ LADY.” 


115 

the unsolicited title of “ Lady ” from parishioners and neighbors. 
Y ho does not acknowledge the right of Mrs. Stowe’s “ Lady 
Lothrop ” to her dignities ? And how many can recollect our 
grandmother’s mention of “Old Lady” This or That, as a 
presiding figure in the narrator’s early life ? 

Philology and tradition clearly define a lady as one who has 
more to give than her neighbors, and whose province it is to dispense 
to the less fortunate. Viewed thus, the application is meaningful. 
To support it aright, there must be superiority to the commonalty, 
largeness of heart, and liberality of hand. 

Against this picture, bracing ourselves for the nervous shock, 
let us set an authentic anecdote, date of this year of our Lord, 1889. 

General S-, than whom no warrior is more beloved and honored 

of his country, met at the door of a hotel at which he was sojourn¬ 
ing, during a tour of travel in company with his wife, a colored 
man, who thus accosted him: 

“ General S-, I believe, suh ? Ken you tell me ef dere’s a 

wash-lady ob de name o’ Johnsing at present engaged in dis house ? ” 

“ I know nothing of the employees here. I am only a traveler 
\and guest in the hotel.” 

“ Yes, suh. I know dat, of co’se, suh. But I t’ought you 
might ’a’ met dis partickler wash-lady, ’cause she done tole me she 
had some clo’es to bring home for a ’oman named S-.” 

There is a degree less of absurdity in another anecdote as true, 
and also of recent date. 

In one of the largest cities in America, a “ boarding-home ” for 
working-girls received a present of a handsome sewing-machine from 
the manufacturer, for the use of the inmates. On a small silver 
plate, let into the table, was engraved, “ To the Working-women’s 
Home, from-.” The name of the firm followed. 






ii6 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


The gift was joyfully received, and, for some weeks, was in 
almost constant use, the boarders being only too glad of this 
assistance in doing their own sewing in the evenings and off-hours. 
In an unlucky moment some one descried the modestly-obscure 
inscription, and proclaimed the tenor thereof. A “ strike ” was the 
result. Not one of the forty girls who composed the family would 
touch the machine with hand or foot. So excited and bitter was the 
run of feeling against it that the matron found it necessar}^ to lay 
the matter before the Board of Managers. Even in this body, 
sympathizers with the malcontents were not wanting. One of these 
energetically condemned the wording of the inscription as a covert 
insult to the class the donor pretended to benefit. 

“ These are young ladies^'' she afiB.rmed, “ with sensibilities as 
acute as ours, and they cannot, without violence to self-resi^ect, 
overlook the wrong done them personally, and as a class.” 

After a lively debate, a woman of high social standing and 
intellectual endowments offered a resolution which, being carried 
unanimously, stands on the minutes of the society to this day : 

“ Resolved^ That the Women composing the Board of Managers 

of the-accept the sewing machine presented by- 

& Co., as a gift to themselves, and that the matron be instructed to 
convey to the young Ladies now resident in the Boarding Home, 
the information that the word ‘ working-women ’ on the machine 
applies to the Board of Management, and not to the boarders.” 

The refinement of the sarcasm did not tell perhaps where it 
should. The lesson conveyed by the incident is unmistakable. 

The illustration of the trend of vulgar prejudice against what 
Sarah Josepha Hale used to call “ the royal name of woman,” even 
outruns, if possible, the arrogant claim of silly illiteracy to a title 
they deserve in no one respect. 





“ LADY.” 


117 

One must, in mental and spiritual stature, get her head well 
above the dust of conceit and the fogs of ignorance before she can 
appreciate the dignity of true womanhood. Her business in life 
may be that of selling “ notions ” over a counter. In the calm con¬ 
sciousness that she is as respectable in her station as the wife of a 
millionaire in hers, she will not throw up her place because the 
floor-walker inadvertently alludes in her hearing to “ saleswomen,” 
instead of “ salesladies.” As the honest and capable superintendent 
of a mill, she is royally careless whether or not she be mentioned 
as a “ forelady.” 

Ruskin’s oft-quoted deliverance on this subject is apt here : 

“ It is now dong since the women of England arrogated, univer¬ 
sally, a title which once belonged to nobility only ; and having once 
been in the habit of accepting the title of gentlewoman, as 
correspondent to that of gentleman, insisted on the privilege of 
assuming the title of ‘ Lady,’ which properly corresponds only to 
the title of ‘ Lord’.” 

The correspondent title to “ Lady ” being “ Lord,” our feminine 
sticklers for the appellation should allude to fellow-workers of the 
other gender as, “saleslords,” “ forelords,” and to John Chinaman, 
as “ washlord.” Or, to be a trifle more moderate and less ridicu¬ 
lous in stating the necessity of the case, the least that their brothers 
can ask is that they be registered as “ foregentlemen ” and “ sales- 
gentlemen.” 

If all this sounds like trifling, be it remembered at what door the 
folly lies. High life below-stairs is a favorite theme with the 
satirist, mainly because it offers so many salient points of attack. 
It may be said that in a Republic there should be no “below-stairs.” 
In one, and the best sense, there is none. Strictly speaking, nothing 
is vulgar except groundless pretension. 


ii8 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


“ Honor and shame from no condition rise ; 

Act well your part. There all the honor lies.” 

An Englishman said it, and may have been sincere in the 
enunciation of the dogma. In America, it is so true that it should 
be lettered in public places, be embroidered and hungup, instead of 
pious sampler-mottoes, in our homes. Action, and not condition, 
makes the noble man and the noble woman. The more stanch one’s 
self-respect, the more careless is he or she of the frippery of a title. 
The broader the platform of dignity, the more room he wdio stands 
thereon has for ease of movement. Such fierce assumption of the 
scanty rag of a name, such touchiness of resentment at imaginary 
imputations, and the incessant uneasiness lest the aforesaid tatters 
be torn way—are like the movements of the captain’s harum-scarum 
son (familiar to us all in the days of “ Angell’s Reader”), when 
having climbed to the main-truck, he snddenl}- appreciated the 
narrowness of his foothold, and the height of the mast. 

To continue the familiar quotation from Ruskin : 

“ I do not blame them for this ; but only for their narrow motive 
in this. I would have them desire and claim the title of Lady, pro¬ 
vided the}^ claim, not merely the title, but the office and duty 
signified by it.” 

The author of “ Five Talents of Woman ” also gives this quota¬ 
tion, and yet, a few chapters later, we come upon this : 

“ Eady-help wanted as housemaid in small family where cook 
and nurse are ladies.” 

“ We have just read the above advertisement, and hope that we 
may take it as an indication that the ‘lady-help’ system is not 
altogether a failure. When real ‘ladies’ become cooks and nurses, 
it will be a grand success. A real lady knows that she is just as 
much a lady when she sweeps a room as when she plays upon a 
piano, or sits on a sofa doing crewel-work.” 


“ LADY.” 


119 

Without staying to comment upon the certainty that the above 
advertisement in an American paper would be an exaggerated form 
of the evil we deprecate, I remark that American ladies—born and 
bred—do cookj nurse, and sweep rooms, usually in their own houses, 
occasionally in other people’s, and for wages. But these are not 
the clamorers for the name of ” lady” in contradistinction to that of 
“ woman.” She upon whom are laid “ the of&ce and the duty signi¬ 
fied b}'- the title,” and who honorably fills one and discharges the 
other, is content to await others’ award of the honor due her. 




Mouse or Rat? 

P opular anecdotes, like meteoric showers, have periodical 
returns. After forty years or so, we elderly people are 
surprised if the threadbare saying or joke is not returned 
upon us unchanged, or fitted out with a spick-and-span 
application to suit the present day. Our fathers called them ‘‘old 
soldiers,” our children brand them as “ chestnuts.” 

A story that has taken half a century to describe its orbit was 
told in my hearing the other day to illustrate a political squabble. 
The Honorable Somebody has used it with telling effect in a cam¬ 
paign speech. We smiled and sighed, a generation ago, over the 
even-then ancient incident of the pattern married couple who were 
divorced because they could not agree whether the rodent that ran 
across the hearth was a mouse or a rat. 

After a fierce fight of tongues for two hours, hysterics attacked 
the wife, and manly compunction the husband. 

They made up, 

“ And kissed again with tears.” 

“ How could we be so wicked ? ” sobbed Madame. 

“And so irrational ? ” chimed in Monsieur. “And all on account 
of an insignificant mouse! ” 


IJO 




MOUSE OR RAT? 


I 2 I 


“A mouse ! A rat, you meau, my love ! ” cried Madame, briskly, 
raisiug tbe face, wet with peuiteut tears, from her husbaud’s breast. 

“ My darliug! bow absurd! It was a mouse, I tell you. It was 
uearer to me than to you, aud I saw it distiuctly.” 

‘‘ Aud I vow there was uever so big a mouse made! Haveu’t I 
eyes as well as you ? ” 

Etcetera, etcetera, uutil tbe breach was iucurable. 

Tbe studeut of bumau uature, who has plied bis trade for above 
a score of years, buds it bard to laugh at tbe satire ou bis kiud, 
even at tbe first heariug. Tbe keen little scalpel goes too near tbe 
boue, and mangles too many nerves. 

The stubborn determination to set people right, at whatever 
sacrifice of time, temper and cellular tissue, has wrought its wicked 
will to a woful worst among tbe children of men since tbe day in 
which our common mother insisted upon modifying her husband’s 
opinion of the forbidden fruit. Then, if never since, it was the man 
who had intuition on his side, and the woman with whom rested 
the burden of argument and demonstration. 

Friends of years become deadly enemies, children forswear 
parents, and parents disinherit children; political partisans cut one 
another’s throats ; churches are riven to the corner-stone, and nation 
declares war against nation, from age to age, for no better reason 
than the inability of the individual man to allow his brother to be 
mistaken. Religion and her preferred handmaiden. Courtesy, pre¬ 
scribe no more arduous task for those who would obey both. 

Mouse or rat ? ” sets society by the ears. 

In the home—the woman’s world—it does more mischief than 
bad temper and greediness. It is here that the mother’s work of 
running down and exterminating the little foxes that will, in their 
early maturity, waste the vineyard, begins. The course of treat¬ 
ment is indicated by the nursery-rule: “ It is not polite to 


122 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


contradict.” Contradiction—verbal—being the outcome of the 
moral inabilit}’ aforesaid, this dogma strikes the evil directly on the 
head. The pity of it is that the rule so generall}' goes to the wall 
when the nursery doors are cleared. 

Shrewd Jacob Abbott in the unsurpassable “ Rollo Book,” tells 
of a foolish fellow who mistook the moon-rise for a fire, and was 
greatly exercised by the apprehension. While he stood gaping at 
the red sky, “ a vulgar fellow ” came riding by in his own carriage, 
and was accosted by the clown with the tidings of the conflagration. 
The vulgarian disputed the assertion. 

” It is the moon, you fool ! Can’t you see that ? ” 

Argument and dogged reiteration ran high for awhile, and 
the owner of the equipage drove off, furious with the other's 
stupidity. 

Presently along came a gentleman driving a wagon. 

” Look at the big fire over yonder! ” called the clown. 

“ Ah ! ” said the gentleman, pleasantly, “ I hope they will be 
able to put it out,” and drove on his way. 

The pith and power of a volume upon breeding, good sense, and 
forbearance with what cannot be cured, are condensed into the little 
episode so quaintly narrated. Inherent vulgarity in high places 
contradict and wrangles over an unpractical trifling difference 
of belief. Inherent courtes}' does not challenge another’s assertion 
causelessly. To allow other people to remain in what we consider 
error, requires strength of mind, true dignity, and a fine sense of 
perspective. 

A sprightly girl once gave a graceful illustration of this point. 
In conversation with a conceited ignoramus, she chanced to say :— 
“ I thought it was //<?.” 

Her superior in sex instantly corrected her, in an undertone, to 
spare her feelings : 


MOUSE OR RAT? 


123 


“ Beg pardon, you know ! But you meant to say, ‘ I thought it 
was him.'' Make it a point of honor, you know, to call my friends’ 
attention to lapses of this sort, you know. It’s true kindness, don’t 
you see ? No offence, I hope ? ” 

The girl’s face was a merry dance of dimple and gleam. 

“ None, I assure you! ” she replied. On the contrary, I am 
your debtor.” 

As she was—for a good story. 

The conscientious desire to amend the ways and notions of one’s 
friends is the specious excuse offered by wiser people than our 
coxcomb for what is, when analyzed, the unlovely weakness we are 
trjdng to depict in this paper. What is it to me that my neighbor 
holds opinions diverse to^ mine with regard to pie-making and 
predestination ? Or, to her that I prefer George Eliot to Miss 
Braddon ? You may think your sister’s new Moquette carpet a 
nuisance because the broom gathers fluff in double-handfuls during 
the first six months of wear, and she, that the pattern of your Axmin- 
ster is stiff or trite—and neither be the wiser (and worse) for the 
other’s opinion. If you would have sisterly love continue, reserve 
on many points is a grace you do well to cultivate. 

“ I must tell the dear girl that she hurries the accompaniment 
in that song,” I heard a musician say. “ It is one of my especial 
favorites, and her style of rendering it excruciates my nerves. 
It would be a real kindness to drop her a hint. Nobody but a true 
friend would do it.” 

There was the unconscious offense of the performer. His ear 
was pained, his sense of fitness outraged. 

In like selfish regard for our own sentiments, tastes, whims and 
ways, is rooted nine-tenths of the ofiicious setting-to-rights going on 
in homes and communities. The inability to look on, resignedly 
and indulgently, while others make blunders (according to our code) 


124 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


is seen, under the microscope of impartial scrutiny, to be egotism of 
a pronounced type. The man who is always right, and bent upon 
dragging his associates up to his level of observation, is a pest 
always and everywhere. His conceit, obstinacy, and intolerance are 
the animus of his zeal. The blatant reformer is most restive 
under criticism of himself. 

It is the really profound and temperate thinker who does not 
resent being sometimes in the wrong. Why should we object to 
saying in effect? “I am wiser now than I was at the time I made 
the statement you quote against me. I thought and said such 
a thing last year, or last month. I have learned better since.” 

The mind and character of such an one will never be pruned, as 
were the peacock box-trees of a hundred and fifty years ago, along 
set and rigid lines. While he exists, he will be a living creature 
that grows and betters himself, not a mummy done up in cerements 
and drugs. 

The world over, the suprerne dut}^- of minding one’s own busi¬ 
ness presupposes wholesome neglect of other people’s. Violation of 
this principle begets gossip, scandal, slander—the three hang 
together as naturally in evil sequence as self, sin, and suffering. 
All enlarge and multiply with the using. It is the converse of 
philanthropy that impels us to try to pull straight a web that is 
not of our weaving, and was never intended for our wearing. Let 
the mistaken thinker cry “ mouse ” all day long unchallenged, even 
though you may have caught, killed and made an autopsy of the rat. 
In minor details of belief and shades of opinion, none of us is his 
’ brother’s keeper. ’ 

Considered as a domestic and social evil, this is outranked by few. 
From infancy, the boy disputes with yells and blows abstract tenets, 
knowing them to be trivial and impersonal in character. The per- 


MOUSE OR RAT? 


125 

centage of vital interests which are the theme of excited discussion, 
is pitiably small. 

The height of a monument in one of the mined cities of Cen¬ 
tral America; the color of an absent friend’s hair or eyes ; the age 
of a reigning belle ; the number of a second cousin’s grandmother’s 
children ; the question of leaving the spoon in saucer or cup—are 
not concrete concerns to this generation, or the one following. 

Let other people—even our nearest of blood—be mistaken once 
in a great while ! The effort to accomplish this miracle of magna¬ 
nimity is recommended as wholesome discipline for the temper. In 
attempting it, yon will learn enough of your hitherto unsuspected 
weaknesses to help you hold your tongue the next time you hearken 
to a political heresy, or, what is to your way of thinking, an unten¬ 
able religious or literary dogma. Untenable to one of your mental 
and moral build, but the holder enjoys the possession thereof. If 
he flaunts it in your eyes, shut them. If he springs his hypothesis 
like a watchman’s rattle in your ears, get away from the din. By 
the unholy frenzy which urges you to rob him of his toy, or, failing 
this, to throttle the praise of it in his windpipe, you may be awakened 
to a sad and salutary truth that may quench the proselyting ardor 
within you, and make you willing to leave him unconverted. 




Household Worries. 


5 HE round of a woman’s daily life ina}^ be characterized as one 
part work, three-parts worry. 

Her husband’s day-by-day labor is usually one-part 
worry, and three-parts work. 

The weight, strain and rub of her duties fall upon the heart 
and nerves. The heavy pull of his is upon muscle and mind. 

There are many reasons why this should be so, and wh}- the 
disposition of life’s work will always be thus apportioned. IMen 
have strength—women, endurance. Men are courageous—women, 
patient. 

Let the fault lie where it may, it is undeniable that the machineiy 
with which wives keep homes in running order, providing for ph3^s- 
ical and ministering to moral needs, would not be tolerated by their 
spouses in their places of business for a day. The mechanic who does 
not understand his trade ; the indolent and inattentive clerk ; the 
book-keeper who cannot make out a correct balance-sheet—lose their 
several positions as a direct consequence of inefficiency. Each man, 
on taking the place, comprehends this fully. 

The employer’s “ That’s not my way of doing business, young 
man ! ” is trial, conviction and sentence, all in one formula. The 


126 



HOUSEHOLD WORRIES. 


127 


laws of commerce are inexorable. The comfort of customers, the 
reputation of the firm, and the future income are periled when 
“ a poor job ” is turned out of the factory. 

“ The boss’s ” standard of excellence may not be high in the 
estimation of his neighbors. That is his affair, and his the responsi¬ 
bility of obedience to orders. Wherever he sets his mark, his 
employees must work up to it, or quit! Nobody disputes his right to 
audit accounts ; to visit every nook of his establishment whenever 
he pleases ; to order strict investigation and make merciless exposures 
should he decide that such are for the interest of the “ concern.” 
Over confidence in subordinates is reckoned by his knowing com¬ 
peers as lax management, and affects his status as a competent 
manager. 

So much for the masculine head of the house. He can take 
care of himself, and of a business which runs, much of the way, in 
worn and oiled grooves. In the thickest and darkest part of the 
“ woods,” he is guided, to some extent, by the “ blaze ” of precedent. 

Turn we, now, to the woman to whom is committed the duty of 
expending judiciously the money her husband makes. At the out¬ 
set of the practice of a profession (for which, by-the-by, she may 
have had little or no training), she is confronted by the terrific 
discovery that there are no stable general rules for the conduct of 
her household. Beyond the fixed and unsatisfactory points that 
meals must be prepared, and the house kept in some sort of order, 
the novice’s nebulous notions of ways and means get little help 
toward steadiness and substance from oral or written laws. Veteran 
housekeepers are offlcions with wisdom learned from experience, 
and the tale of each differs from the rest. Of printed manuals, 
there is a superfluity. She who heeds all, or one-tenth of them, 
will be beaten prone and breathless. 


128 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Those who have read the delightful sketch of “ Mrs. Mudlaw’s 
Potato Pudding,” will recall the despairing dismay with which the 
inquirer put up paper and pencil at the end of half an hour’s boot¬ 
less catechism of the cook, and moved the latter to voiceful ire by 
remarking: 

“ So you have no particular rule for making it ? ” 

In such calm desperation does our young wife make up her 
mind, early in the domestic novitiate, that everybody keeps house 
according to a rule of her own, each doing what seems good (or 
practicable) in her own eyes, nnder her husband’s vine and lig-tree, 
with many to molest and make her afraid. She must formulate 
creed and by-laws for herself, and try the effect of the code upon 
untried and heterogenous material. 

The story of blunders, failures, mortifications, and distresses 
would wring the heart of narrator and auditor. She may have a 
full corps of nominal helpers at her back, who ought to be account¬ 
able for waste and wreck, but when the day of reckoning comes, 
she finds herself set in the forefront of the array, with nobody to 
share the blame with her. Men are often most unfair to us in this 
respect. The merchant does not consider himself obliged to stand 
by a clerk who conies to him well recommended, and watch him by 
the hour and day, to see that he gives good measure, and is civil 
and obliging. It is a rule of trade that the administration and 
execution are different branches of business. The Southern negroes 
have a saying which expresses the popular judgment on this head. 
They say of one who pays others to do work he is, after all, obliged, 
by reason of their incompetency, to perform himself, that “ he keeps 
a dog, and then does his own barking.” Yet the business man, 
with a full appreciation of what his “ hands ” are expected to achieve, 
recognizes but one cnlprit when the stairs are dusty in his dwelling, 
and the soup oversalted. It is not enough for him to be assured 


HOUSEHOLD WORRIES. 


129 


that his wife has given explicit orders in each department; that the 
honsemaid professes to understand her business, and the cook to 
be skilled in her craft—moreover, that the sensibilities of our 
domestic crews will not brook espionage and overstrict inquiry. 
The mistress who “ follows up ” her assistants zealously will shortly 
be spared further trouble in that line by having no helpers, in name 
or in deed, to supervise. 

Our domestic potentate reasons out none of these merciful con¬ 
clusions. “ In his establishment, the work is properly done, or he 
knows the reason why. A man has a right to expect, when he has 
been slaving for his family all day, that some regard should be paid 
to his comfort at home.” 

Happy she who is not familiar with this, and much more of the 
same sort of talk—who has not cowered like a slave under the 
knout, in the agony of self-upbraidings, joined to the stinging 
rebuke of him who feeds, clothes and lodges her, and who adjudges 
her to be a faithless steward. This is one of the ways by which our 
American women grow up to be a proverb for premature decrepi¬ 
tude. The husband looks on with impatient wonder as the pretty, 
lively girl sinks into the careworn wife—a condition hardly 
ameliorated by the increase of worldly wealth. The more 
conscientious she is, the more anxious she becomes rightl}’ to 
administer the affairs of her viceroyalty. With the enlargement of 
her establishment, cares thicken. The more servants she employs, 
the more she has to oversee and regulate, the further the fulcrum 
and weight are removed from the power. The kitchens of many 
rich people are overrun by a predatory gang, that come and go like 
grasshoppers. While there are neither laws, nor a pretense of 
system in our domestic service, the best and wisest of ns are not 
exempt from change and spoliation. American housewives are the 
most defenseless class of workers in the community. 


130 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Here let us pause, as on the brink of an uneasy ocean forever 
casting up mire and dirt. It is not the object of this chapter to 
propose remedial measures for the national evil. Thus far, pro¬ 
posed checks have been like the whips with which, at the silly 
monarch’s command, his creatures scourged the waves, and the 
fetters the sea tossed back to his feet. 

A thoughtful sketch written by Helen Evertson Smith, treats as 
a womanly defect a want of the sense of proportion, in considering 
and handling a subject. Here lies the secret of the wear and tear 
that grind the housewife to dust-and-ashes before she has told out 
half her days. She can hardly overmagnify the office of wife and 
house-mother. She does, in attempting to fill it, exaggerate thorn- 
pricks into stabs, and dignify vexation into affliction. The surest 
way to spoil a subordinate, and to unsettle her ideas of proportion is 
to let her see that she has the power to wound her mistress and 
affect the happiness of the family she serves for hire. The ruler 
steps from her platform to a lower level than her subordinate, when 
she condescends to plead and supplicate, where the right to 
command is also a duty. Household-worries should never reach 
below the surface. In proportion to real sorrow, they are gnats and 
and mosquitoes. Nobod}’- ever died from their bite. The wife’s 
inner life, and the steady equipoise of the mother, are too high in 
value to be sacrificed to ignoble things. 

“ The whole world is not worth an oath! ” said the finest prince 
of the Stuart name, when one of his courtiers said of a misadven¬ 
ture which befell the royal hunting-party— 

“ Your father,—Priuce Henry,—would, were he in your place, 
swear that no man could stand it! ” 

The whole world of minute aunoyances that beset our pains¬ 
taking housekeeper in the effort to bring the work of hirelings up 
to her standard of faithful service, is not worth a tear—hardly a 


HOUSEHOLD WORRIES. 


131 

sigh. The philosophic manager, whose sense of proportion and fit¬ 
ness is above the average of her sex, takes up ashes (figuratively) 
with a long-handled fire-shovel. Our anxious and troubled (“ cum¬ 
bered ” in the original) Martha goes down upon her knees on the 
hearth, and plunges her tender hands into the heap. 

The saddest, and one of the most significant things I ever saw, 
was a woman in an insane asylum, who did nothing all day long 
but wash and polish one window-pane. Nothing diverted her from 
the task. With puckered forehead and folded lips, her anxious 
eyes set on the glass, she breathed upon it, scrubbed it with her 
apron, and went over and over each inch of the shining surface until 
the heart of the beholder ached wearily. She had been doing that 
one thing, and nothing else, for four years. Since then, she has 
stood with me as the type of thousands whose vision is narrowing 
hourly through absorption in work, which is not degrading in itself 
•—which is excellent in its time, and respectable in its place—but 
was never meant to fill the horizon of any human being’s mental or 
spiritual sight. If 

“ Little things, on little wings, 

Bear little souls to heaven,” 

a multitude of little things, whose wings have been dropped or nib¬ 
bled away, may swarm like ants upon the tortured soul, and drag 
it into the earth. 




Visited. 

I S hospitality a duty? Let us pull to pieces this one of the dear 
old “ taken-for-granteds,” and examine it, section by section. 
Holy Writ so abounds with commendation and re-commenda- 
tion of it, that we must put the canon, with numberless lesser 
authorities, into the background, and turn our eyes steadfastly 
from beholding them while reconstructing our basis. 

Thus stands our syllogism: i. A man’s most valuable earthly 
possession is his Ho 7 ne —the term including the satisfaction he has 
in the enjoyment of the comforts, pleasures, and sweet, wholesome 
affections which make up domestic life. 

2 . The obligation to love his neighbor as himself, to do good, 
and to communicate of what has been freely given to him, is second 
only to the duty of love to God. 

The conclusion is foregone. 

“Use hospitality without grudging,” wrote the fisherman Apos¬ 
tle, mindful, it may be, of certain unrecorded passages in his itiner¬ 
ant ministry. The revisers have weakened the injunction in 
rendering the last word, “ unmurmuring.” The heart-giving, frank ' 
and free, makes the ungracious dole of hand and lip impossible. 
The fact has ugly significance that, with the increase of beauty and 
luxury in our homes, the practice of the generous virtue has declined 
into a Crusoeish disposition to draw in our doorsteps after us when 






VISITED. 


133 


we enter our abodes. The latch-string that always hung on the 
outside has been superseded by spring-bolt and patent key. 

This is not pessimistic platitude. The era of machinery throws 
adjustable bands about hearts, reels off, marks and delivers 
sympathies and courtesies to order, each package bearing the stamp, 
“ R. S. V. P.” Should pa3mient be withheld, it is understood that 
no more goods will be delivered to that address. We “ receive ” 
and “ entertain ” on a debit and credit system; invite our friends 
to accept our hospitality because it is expected of us, less than 
because we want to see them, or they would like to meet us. 

Sometimes this is sheer selfishness; oftener, indolent indiffer¬ 
ence ; oftenest, because our lives are so full and fast that the cozy 
nooks once sacred to social intercourse are done away with. This is 
as it should be, if the chief end of man be to make himself comfort¬ 
able. The nobler living, rounded into perfection, grows to be thus 
spending and being spent for others. From this platform, 
hospitality becomes both duty and privilege. I cannot afford, in 
justice to myself, not to ask my friends to my house, and make 
them happy while there. The general principle cannot be contro¬ 
verted. How and when to do these things is a question to be 
answered differently in various latitudes, but a few rules hold good 
everywhere. To begin with, dismiss as a silly fallacy, however 
embrowned it may be with age, the idea of treating a visitor “ quite 
as one of the family.” As the countryman said when offered bread- 
and-butter at a Delmonico lunch,—they “ can get that at home.” 
Abroad, they look for a change of diet. 

When a j^oung girl, and one of a gay party at an old Virginia 
country house, I was invited to pass some days at another a few 
miles away. The invitation was given in person by the planter and 
his wife, and included two other girls, visitors with myself at the 
hospitable mansion. 


134 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


“ Come and spend a week—two weeks—a month, if yon can! ” 
we were bidden. “ The longer you stay the happier we shall be. 
We never make strangers of our friends, but consider them a part 
of the family.” 

Our engagements allowed us to promise but three days, and 
with this understanding, we went at the appointed time. 

The chatelaine met us at the door, was “ delighted to see ” us, 
directed a maid to show us up to our rooms, and told us to “ feel 
entirely at home.” We wished ourselves there, in very truth, fifty 
times before nightfall. Our hostess and her three daughters sat on 
the vine-shaded piazza with their needle-work, and, after we had 
found chairs for ourselves, chatted gayly together, of people we did 
not know, and places we had never heard of, but chiefly of personal 
and family affairs. They were vivacious, sometimes witty, but 
lacking the key, we were more bored than amused by their 
persiflage. A couple of children varied the performances by rush¬ 
ing against us in their romps, tumbling over our feet and wiping 
fruit-stained fingers on our gowns. At meals, wdiich were abundant 
and elegant, we were served in order of age, the mother and two 
elder daughters before us, and the table-talk ran on brightly 
without reference, near or remote, to the new-comers. The after- 
dinner siesta of the whole party was alluded to, incidentally, as a 
household habit before we were left to find our way to onr chambers, 
and we saw nothing more of our entertainers until supper time. 

The gardens were fine, and we might ramble in them if we 
chose, but the recreation w'as not suggested any more than the 
noble library was opened to us as a help against ennui. One of the 
daughters, accompanied by a groom, went to ride in the late after¬ 
noon ; the father took a second to drive early in the next morning, 
without apology to those who were left behind. All three practiced 
their music, which was excellent, ^'^-r two hours at a time. Two of 















































































VISITED. 


137 


them sang and played together well, and spent most of the evening 
at the piano, leaving us free to talk and listen at our pleasure, while 
their mother knitted placidly on one side of the center-table, the 
third daughter playing chess with her father on the other. It was 
an amiable, affectionate home-group; as happy in and among 
themselves as good health and spirits and easy circumstances could 
make them. They took no more notice of us in our character as 
guests than if we had been bodiless spirits, instead of pleasure- 
loving girls, who had left a merry circle in which we were made 
much of, for this nondescript existence. 

So lost and homesick were we that, on the morning of the second 
day, we watched for the passing of the country postman, and privily 
despatched a note to the mother of one of the trio, begging her to 
contrive an excuse for sending for us that evening. This she man¬ 
aged so cleverly that not one of the free-and-easy party suspected 
why our visit was abridged, or that we had an irrational prejudice 
against being made an (unconsidered) part of the family. 

Since then, I have never believed people who tell me that they 
“ do not like to be made company of.” Reason enjoins that one should 
fly his owu colors, in and out of port. Being an integral part of 
one household, he can enter no other except as a guest, nor would 
he if he could. 

It follows, as a necessity, if you would treat your visitors as such, 
that you must know when they are coming, and the length of their 
sta}^, in order to prepare a fitting welcome. The English define 
both these points in giving invitations, thereby sparing the guests 
needless perplexity. If you say explicitly, “ Can you come to us 
on Monday, the i8th of this month, and remain until Friday of the 
same week? ” your friend is sure, that for the specified period, she 
occupies her own place, and not that of some one else who cannot 
•come until she has gone, while you can put your domestic afiairs 


138 HOUSE AND HOME. 

into such a shape that you can thoroughly enjoy intercourse with 
her. 

The fashion of “ At Home ” days is gaining favor rapidly with 
those who once condemned it as formal and subversive of genuine 
friendliness. The woman who engraves the name of a certain day, 
afternoon or evening, on her visiting cards as the time when she is 
ready and glad to receive calls, says, in effect, that she appreciates 
the desire of her acquaintances to see her, and sets too high a value 
on their time and hers to risk the loss of a visit. She furthermore 
marks her recognition of the duty of hospitality by resigning a 
stated portion of the week to the performance of the grateful task. 
Her visitors are never doubtful as to the chances of inconveniencing 
her, or of finding her within doors. She belongs, by choice, on that 
day, to all who will come, and, being prepared to receive them, will be 
disappointed if they stay away. Any one, except a very intimate 
friend, is guilty, however unwittingly, of impertinence in present¬ 
ing himself at any other season, unless by especial permission. 
People who have never taken the pains to think twice of this view 
of the subject, have a way of saying, “ Let me call some time when 
I can see more of you—have you all to myself; I hate reception 
days.” One must be very sure of his own attractions who thus 
proposes, uninvited, to absorb the entire attention, for even an hour, 
of an always busy and useful mistress of a family. If she, with 
fullest knowledge of her occupations and desires, chooses to appoint 
the season for receiving the outer world, her wishes will be respected 
by well-bred acquaintances. It argues presumption and fatuous 
self-conceit for one to assume that he can never be unwelcome. 

The opposite extreme of treating a guest with too little ceremony, 
is to burden him with attention. Some kindly folk would seem to 
imagine that their friends part with individuality as soon as 
the shadow of the hospitable roof envelops them. The deterniina- 




VISITED. 


139 


tion to amuse, to feed, to fill them, body and mind, with entertain¬ 
ment during every hour of their sojourn is obvious at every turn. 
To insist that he whom you delight to honor shall eat twice as 
much as he wants, and does not know what he prefers to take on 
his plate; should see things he cares nothing for; drive when he 
would rather walk; sail, when he abhors aquatic sports from the 
depths of an agonized stomach ; that he shall be diverted when he 
longs to be alone with his own thoughts for one precious hour of 
the fourteen that make up his waking day—is benevolent torture. 

Study your friend’s likes and proclivities, addressing your 
ingenuit}" to the attempt to make him happy in his own way, 
instead of forcing him to feign satisfaction with yours. It is quite 
as possible to bore him by giving him a surfeit of your society as 
by allowing him to seek amusement in reading, or a solitary ramble 
in the direction chosen by himself. If he comes to you tired, let 
him rest. Should he be loquacious, listen while he has his say. So 
far from considering you stupid because you sit by, attentive and 
mute, while he turns his heart and brain inside out, he will be likely 
to commend yon as the prince of conversationalists. The definition 
of a bore, “ One who talks so much of himstXi that he gives you no 
chance to talk of j/( 92 ^rself,” is one of the best things that has been 
said in this century. See to it that you are the bored, rather than 
the bore, when the relations are those of host and visitor. 

It is so impolite to discuss persons and topics in the presence of 
those to whom these are unfamiliar, that one marvels to hear it 
done every day by people who should know so much better. If the 
name of a stranger, or reference to an incident or an event of which 
your guest is ignorant, be introduced in the course of conversation, 
address a word of apology or explanation to him, and speedily turn 
the talk to what would interest him more. 


140 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


The ability to make your home the favorite resort of the people 
you most desire to attract, is a thing to be coveted. It is no mean 
ambition to wish to have the knack, talent, genius,—sometimes it 
is all three,—of “entertaining” well. The road to success here is 
short and straight; it is forgetfulness of self in the intent and effort to 
please and interest those who have come to be pleased and interested. 
This is what makes certain houses and hosts “ delightful ” to all 
classes and conditions of visitors. The want of it may result in 
impressing the invited with your superiority to themselves in posi¬ 
tion, knowlege or riches, but, as a rule, even toadies of an humble 
mind and one’s most affectionate friends do not like to be put at a 
disadvantage. 

There are sensible people in civilized communities who compre¬ 
hend that a woman who is worth visiting may have stated work to 
do that cannot be entirely laid aside for weeks, or days, for the 
delight of a favorite guest’s companionship. The visitor who 
cannot see this is an absorbent of the spo7igiest type. Make your 
invitations to her as few as is compatible with policy. 

While giving your friends graciously of your best, avoid the 
appearance of “ putting yourself out ” to accomplish this end. Let 
the flow of hospitality be that of the mountain spring, not the 
forcing pump. “ The first course was roasted hostess,” said a 
wicked satirist of a dinner party. Your guests will not easily 
forgive themselves if they remark so entire a change in your every¬ 
day manner of living as argues an extraordinary press and strain 
upon yourself and helpers. However skillful may be your endeavor 
to “ bring up the style ” of your establishment to the level of one 
which has an underpinning of five times your income, you cannot 
achieve a counterfeit that will deceive others. Strike the true key 
in the beginning, and do not change it. Be yourself^ and keep what 
belongs to, and is of you, in just harmony. Bear in mind that 


VISITED. 


141 

Recreation, Repose, Refresliment, are the Blessed three tliat should 
attend upon the stranger or acquaintance within your gates. The 
hospitality that comes short of this is a misnomer. 








Visitor. 


e EXICOGRAPHERS put down as obsolete—“ Hospitate; to 
be the recipient of hospitality.” 

They may be right in assuming that we do not need the 
word. We surely want something to express the active- 
passive receptive condition of the benefits and graces of hospitality. 
The term itself has been so far estranged from the root, hospes^ a 
guest, as to relieve the said recipient of all responsibility, and to 
double the burdens of the host. As the relations of the two are 
popularly regarded, the visitor is not even the crust of the loaf, 
binding it into form and comeliness, yet part and parcel of the 
generous whole. He is more like the tasteless shell from which we 
sip Roman punch and ices—taking nothing from, and giving 
nothing to what it holds. It is a common saying that few people 
know how to entertain. Coronachs are chanted over the tender 
graces of the dead virtue of hospitality; tomes written upon the 
possibilities of resuscitation. A sure evidence of the vitality of the 
principle in the human mind and heart is offered in the truth that 
few sighs and little ink are expended in recrimination. Yet the 
children in the market-place complained—“ We have piped into you, 
and ye have not danced.” 

If we would have successful hosts, we must have guests w^ho 
appreciate, and do their duty as seconds to the principals in the 






VISITOR. 


143 


duet. Hospitality as a pas seul must always be a failure. It comes 
to pass, by the curious reversal of positions we deprecate, that a 
bidden guest often accepts an invitation with the mien of one who 
grants a boon. If the hospitable reqnest be made verbally, he hesi" 
tates, demurs, “ is not quite sure that he can manage it,” and having 
thus deprived the act of the little graciousness it might possess 
when the question is of the receipt, not the bestowal of a favor, 
finally agrees to “ come if he can.” 

You, if the host, or hostess of the patronizing visitor, know from 
this beginning, what will be his deportment while he remains nnder 
your roof-tree, eats and drinks of your best, and suffers you to 
amuse him. He is your master and critic; if he be amiable, your 
defence against yourself in judgment of deficiencies that might 
incommode His Royal Tittleness. I have had such an one apolo¬ 
gize for my apple-sance, and condone my coffee, when I had not 
hinted at a fanlt in either. Aware though you may be, that he is 
your inferior in everything, including politeness, duty compels you 
to submit to his condescension, to let pass, unchallenged, arrogance, 
boorishness, real insolence, while he is sheltered by the aegis of 
Guesthood. 

The reason for this is plain. The number of well-bred people 
in every community is in humiliating disproportion to that of the 
nnder-bred. You have ministered to the vanity of a small-sonled 
or ignorant being, who, by an odd system of inflation known to his 
kind, is lifted by the honor done him above those from whom it 
came. 

“ Really, now,” said the ingenionsly-stupid scion of a wealthy 
house to a lady who invited him to a party, “ I have been ont late 
so many nights lately that I am awfully tired, you know. Can’t you 
let me off this once ? ” 


144 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


“ With pleasure, now and always,” was the amused rejoinder. 

The man whose heart, or head, or both, do not tell him that 
your desire to see him within your doors, and not his consent to be 
there, is the compliment paid by one person to another, can never 
“ hospitate ” with you in the subtler sense of the obsolete verb. It 
carries with it an implication of reciprocity which fine spirits 
invariably recognize. 

Receive, as a visitor elect, the proposition of your acquaintance 
that you shall come to his home, for what it is—an act of good-will, 
and flattery of the most delicate kind. So far from presuming upon 
it, you should strive to justify his good opinion of you by modest, 
genial behavior that will be a tacit acknowledgment of obligation. 
Make him proud, not ashamed of his friend. The truest breeding 
is that which teaches the sojourner for an hour, a dajq or month, 
beneath another’s roof, to fit cozily into the famil}^ groove. Life 
should run more smoothly for the household because you are with 
them, whereas, in too many instances, the train is shunted jarringly 
upon another track, and nothing seems home-like until the disturb¬ 
ing influence is withdrawn. 

One of the best men I ever knew, a gentle-hearted, large-souled 
Christian scholar, contrived to make himself so obnoxious as a 
visitor in other men’s houses, that a hint of his coming threw hosts, 
servants and children into a panic. He would have stepped aside 
into a puddle to spare the life of an angle-worm, but his mild request 
that a cup of strong, freshly-made coffee might be sent to his bed¬ 
room at six o’clock every morning, obliged mistress or cook to rise 
in the raw winter dawn to prepare it. At breakfast, he took (or was 
miserable) a special brand of chocolate, which was not procurable 
ill country places ; he could eat no bread or muffins that were com¬ 
pounded with eggs, and never touched pork, veal or fish. Dinner, 
during his stay, was served by request at five, instead of at six, the 


FINICAL VISITOR. 



I 


-'vV. 




































































































VISITOR. 


147 


usual hour. A bottle of Rhine wine was set at his plate ; certain vege¬ 
tables were indispensable to his comfort, and others so disagreeable to 
sight and smell that they were tabooed entirely. A lunch of sponge¬ 
cake (home-made) and brandied fruit furnished a night-cap, without 
which sleep was impossible. The bedstead was turned so that the 
earliest morning ra3^s might not strike upon his eyes, and was, 
furthermore, propped on two hassocks into an inclined plane, to 
encourage the flow’of blood toward the extremities. 

An excellent divine, portly and rubicund, carries his dail}’’ 
health-bread in his valise wherever he goes. On one occasion, it 
was left accidentally on the sideboard, and sliced by an innocent ser¬ 
vant for general use at supper time. The owner identified it at a 
glance, and with great presence of mind, called the host’s attention 
to the blunder. With the mien of an injured saint, he eyed in 
speechless emotion the serv^ant who collected the desecrated frag¬ 
ments in a plate, and set it beside him. He next inquired what kind 
of tea was on the tray, and, on being told, shook his head mournfull^q 
and supped on bread and water. 

“ You perceive. Madam,” he moralized, when the uncomfortable 
party arose from their chairs, “ If I had not brought my bread, I 
must have starved.'''* 

Both of these men were, to all appearance, in robust health. 
Both should have remained at home, or, if compelled to go from 
place to place, should have taken themselves and load of idiosyncra- 
cies to a hotel, where they could pay in dollars and cents for the, 
luxurj^ of pancreatic caprice. 

Dyspeptics must live ? Resisting the temptation to plagiarize 
Talleyrand’s repl}^ to the lampooner who offered the same plea— 
ne vois pas la nccessite ^^—let me urge the broader principle of 
greatest good to the greatest number. If there is nothing fit for you, 
as an invalid, to eat on your host’s rneitu., take the alternative of 


148 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


bodily suffering, rather than wound the kind hearts of the caterers. 
If not prepared to do this, you are physically unfit to “ hospitate ” 
comfortably with your best friends. 

Doubly unfit, in spirit and breeding, is he who, without the 
excuse of ill-health, thinks to add to his personal consequence by 
display of disfavor of what is set before him. Leave regimen 
behind you when you cross the threshold of your neighbor’s house. 
The parade of your individual appetites disgusts others in propor¬ 
tion as it interests yourself. You need not drink coffee if you 
prefer tea, of which there is none on the table. Water is a fashionable 
beverage, and may be chosen without expatiation on the biliary 
derangement or nerv^ous disorder that makes it imprudent for 3^011 
“ to touch coffee or chocolate.” It is never pardonable to say that 
you do not like anything offered to 3’’ou, You might as well inform 
the disconcerted hostess that her effort to provide for your comfort 
and enjoyment is a bungling mistake. As a safe rule of general 
application, the less you say as to the inner works of your bodily 
structure, the better. 

Mungo Park had taken a bite of a greasy-looking cake of whitish 
paste dotted with black, tendered him by an African woman of 
whom he had begged a night’s lodging, when, drawing near to the 
light, he saw that the specks were large ants. 

“ In great disgust, I was on the point of throwing it away,” he 
says. “ But, reflecting that to do this would give pain to my kind 
hostess who had set before me the best of her store, I refrained, and 
ate it, instead.” 

I have sat at Christian men’s feasts with millionaires and 
savants, who might have taken a lesson in genuine refinement 
from the ragged traveler in the Kaffir kraal. 

In the matter of hours for meals, for rising and retiring, 
conform, without hesitation or comment, to those of the hospitable 



TRUL COURTESY, 





































































































































































































































VISITOR. 


151 

household. It is underbred and selfish to keep breakfast waiting, 
because you have overslept yourself, or dinner and tea, while you 
have prolonged a drive or a walk unseasonably. If a meal is well 
cooked, it is inj ured by standing beyond the proper time of serving, 
and if ^^our host’s time is worth an3"thing, j-ou are dishonest when 
you waste it. 

It is quite as selfish in want of tactful regard for other’s feelings, 
if less glaringly inconvenient, to present yourself below-stairs long 
before the stated breakfast hour. You may not like to sit in your 
bed-chamber; the parlors may be in perfect order for your 
occupancy, or the library tempt you to snatch a quiet hour for 
reading, but she is an exceptionally even-tempered hostess who 
does not flush uneasily at finding that you came down by the time 
the servants opened the house, and have made yourself at home 
in the living-rooms ever since. The inference is that j^our sleeping- 
room was uncomfortable, or that she is indolently unmindful of 
your breakfastless state. 

I have an anguished recollection of a long visit paid to my 
family by an accomplished gentleman whose every intention was 
purely humane, yet who descended to the parlor each morning at 
an hour so barbarously early that he had to light the gas to see the 
piano-keys, on which he strummed until breakfast was read}\ 
There is a savage consolation in the knowledge that, if he is distin¬ 
guishing himself in the heavenly mansions as a player upon instru¬ 
ments, there is no mother with a teething baby and a headache, in 
the room overhead. 

The habits of your entertainers and such incidents of your 
visits as are less agreeable than you could desire or might expect, 
ought to be sacred from criticism while you are with them, and 
afterward. You are visitor, not monitor. Your mission is to 
please, not to reform abuses. Gossip founded on the report of “ one 


152 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


who ought to know, having been a guest of the family for weeks at 
a time,” is so far beneath contempt that I may well be ashamed to 
name it as a possible outrage upon hospitality. Be explicit and 
courteous in answering invitations, whether you accept, or decline. 
State’ at what time you will make your appearance at your friend’s 
house, and how long you will stay. If prevenled by unforeseen 
occurrences from fulfilling an engagement, send off your excuses 
and regrets instantl}^, that the failure may be nothing more than a 
disappointment. It is actual unkindness to suffer useless pre¬ 
parations to be made for receiving you and administering to your 
welfare. If your hostess-expectant knows your tastes, and endeav¬ 
ors to gratify them, there will be an individuality in her arrange¬ 
ments that would suit no substituted guest so well as the one for 
whom they were primarily intended. 

As a final suggestion, accept the caution not to over-praise the 
appointments of the establishment that widens doors and hearts to 
take you in. If your own home is grander, your means of enter¬ 
tainment in excess of your host’s, the laudation smacks too strongly 
of patronage to agree with sensitive spirits. If your house be a 
cottage by comparison with your frend’s mansion, the anxiety to 
admire all that pertains to the latter has a savor of sycophancy. 
Adapt 3^ourself naturally, without question or comment, to the 
temporary socket in which you are placed. 

Do not —I entreat you by the memory of personal experiences 
that galled at the time like an ill-fitting shoe, and stung like sand- 
burrs —exert yourself to be agreeable. The perfection of breeding 
is to make your entertainers believe that the illumination you bring 
into their home is the reflection of the light shed by their own 
successful hospitality. 



With Our Girls. 

S his sentence lies uppermost in an open letter upon my table : 

“ Our daughter is in her eighteenth year. She has 
been delicate until within a few months, but seems at 
present quite strong. Her ill-health has interfered seriously 
with her studies'. Of course, at her age, it is impossible to send 
her to school. Her manifest destiny is to marry early, and make 
some man a capital wife and housekeeper.” 

A petted, sickly, ignorant child, who has not resolution enough 
at seventeen, to repair defects in her scholastic training—good for 
nothing but marriage ! This is the translation of the above. 

“ Heaven help the men, to-night! ” says Lady Betty, smirking 
at her image in the mirror, bedight for the evening foray. 

I take up the words solemnly and sadly. Heaven help the men 
and the nation, when of such material, and of stuff even more flimsy, 
are to be made the wives of the rising race—the mothers of the 
next generation ! 

The proposition that she who is best able to live alone, to con¬ 
trol herself and mold circumstances to work together for her good, 
is also—other things being equal—best fitted for happy, beneficent 
wifehood, appears simple enough to be grasped by the average 
intellect. It is my conviction, founded upon years of critical 

observation, that she who thinks of love as the business of girl-life, 

153 






154 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


and of marriage as its aim and end; whose intercourse with the 
other sex is colored by these views and expectations, is the last 
woman any rational man should wed. I j oin to this the belief that the 
prevalence of this habit of thought and purpose debases the standard 
of both womanhood and manhood in our country. From honest 
intolerance with it are born the eccentricities in the language and 
conduct of many pure, noble women stigmatized as “ strong-minded,” 
for the lack of more apt classification. 

“ I am aweer, my dear boy,” says Magwitch to Pip, in “ Great 
Expectations,” “ that on that occasion I was low / ” 

The coarse triumph of a vulgar nature merited the epithet less 
decidedly than does the attitude our girls and boys, our young men 
and young women, occupy with respect to one another. Every 
sportsman knows that overmuch and untimely hunting makes game 
shy and wild. “ Who wants to make game of them ! ” says Our 
Girl with spirit. “ Look now at me—personally and individually— 
myself! I am not a husband-hunter; I do not care to get married 
for ages ! But I do like to converse with sensible men, and to have 
a good time with the boys. It may sound frivolous, but I relish 
innocent fun and frolics. Sleighing and lawn-tennis, and boating- 
parties, and the like. If I smile twice at the same man, he thinks I 
want to ‘ catch ’ him ! The code of the parlor is no higher in this 
respect than that of the kitchen. Bridget does not ‘ belave in 
followers without they mane business.’ ” 

Accepting this very personal “ Myself” as the mouthpiece of a 
class who have a right to a hearing, I say. First: No amount of 
misconception of your motives alters the truth that our social, as well 
as our domestic atmosphere is what women make it. And ifour best 
women give over the attempt to refine and reform men, they will 
become Turks and Yahoos. Next: Respect yourself—body and 
spirit. There is untold might of influence in the fearless puritv of 





























































































WITH OUR GIRLS. 


U7 


a nature that, having no affinity for evil, passes it unconsciously 
by. Smile as brightly as you please; enjoy sensible talks and 
harmless fun, and be as happy with the boys as the Lord meant you 
and them to be together. But, from first to last, never forget that 
your duty to them and to yourself demands that both shall be better 
for the association. If man’s work is like that of the more majestic 
forces of nature—tides and glaciers and stormy wind fulfilling 
His word—yours is the gradual, but potent ministry of dews and 
showers and sunlight. Regard and regulate the drift of little 
things, the thistle-down of thought and action. Go to your needle 
and knitting-work for lessons in the slow accretion of influence and 
result; the disasters of unfastened threads, and stitches dropped 
and overlooked. For example : The man who presumes so far 
upon his privileges as a frequent visitor, as to cross your threshold 
with his hat upon his head, or a cigar in his mouth; who lounges 
at half-length upon the sofa, or helps himself to an easy chair when 
the ladies present are less luxuriously seated ; who sits, unmoved, at 
your grandmother’s entrance, and sees you or any other woman tug 
at refractor}^ blind or window, or move a heavy piece of furniture; 
who drops, unauthorized, the “ Miss ” from your name ; who is fond of 
holding and pressing your hand, or seizing you by waist or arm in 
what then ceases to be innocent frolic —may become a gentleman 
throngh your tactful discipline. He may now, possibh', know no 
better. 

“ I wish he would not viean quite so well, and do a little better! ” 
said a young lady to me, once. 

A highly respectable youth, seeing, in the course of a call upon 
her, that his sock had slipped down, coolly laid his foot npon a 
chair, pulled up his trouser-leg, readjusted the offending garment, 
composed his pantaloon, and put down his foot, without intermitting 
his talk. 



158 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


“ He is the whole support of a widowed mother, niy dear,” 
pleaded I, faintly. “ Whatever his solecisms in demeanor, he 
always means well.” Upon which succeeded her plaintive retort. 

In truth, the marvel is that the inajorit}- of onr 3'onng men are 
so well behaved, when we remember the herding of schools, colleges, 
stores and business offices, and how few of them remain under the 
paternal roof after the age of fourteen. If 3^011 girls do not come 
to their help in a resolute, sisterl3’ spirit, not 01113' polishing 

of the shell, but in the elevation of the inner man, the race of 
gentlemen must diminish direfull3'. There are peculiar elements of 
strength and protection on one side, confidingness on the other, and 
a certain romantic ferrorof attachment in the friendship—pure and 
simple—between a man and a woman, that cannot, from the very 
nature of things, enter into the intimac3’' of one girl with another, 
or into the sturdier comradeship of men. Human nature knows 
none sweeter and more stanch. Believing, as I do, in the value and 
happiness of such attachments, I am loath that the 3'onng people I 
love should be denied the benefits of the same. Is there no power 
of common sense and will that can give us, instead of pruder3' and 
co3’ness, of suspicion, coquetr3'', manoeuvers, gossip, heart-burnings, 
unworth3" triumphs, worn and callous and bruised affections-—the 
free, frank association, that meditates and distrusts no snare— 
intercourse that shall unseal springs of healing and refreshment to 
us, as to our brothers ? 

Believe me, dear girls, our Father has made no grander creature 
than an upright, large-souled, tender-hearted man. It is hard to 
get at the knowledge and understanding of his real nature under 
the present constitution of society. Still, the genus is so worthy of 
study and esteem, that you do well to strive b3^ the exercise of what 
is best and highest in yourselves, to develop the latent germs of 
true manliness in even unlikely “ bo3's.” There may be an 


WITH OUR GIRLS. 


159 


imprisoned angel in the block. But,—remember, public opinion 
condemns strongly and justly, speculation for private enrichment on 
the part of missionaries ! 





Our Voices. 

5 0 ME years ago it was my prideful pleasure to chaperone a 
party of American girls through the exhumed city of Pom¬ 
peii. The traveling group of six comprised two Southern 
women, one Western, two from the Middle States, and a 
sixth from New England. All were highly educated, refined, 
sprightly, and keenly appreciative of the privileges of the Grand 
Tour. Five out of the six spoke French, and four, Italian so well 
as to call forth the commendation of our guide. 

“ It was seldom,” he went on to say, “ that Americans were 
fluent in that tongue, although many had suf&cient command of 
French to make their way on the Continent.” 

“ How do you know that we are Americans ? ” asked a fine type 
of our best class of girls. “ Why not English ? ” 

She had put the same question to a boatman on Lake Como, and 
received for reply that “ The English have red faces, the Americans 
white.” 

The Pompeiian guide was less complimentary. 

“The English speak from the chest,” he said, illustrating his 
meaning by driving his rich baritone into the depths of his lungs; 
“ the Americans, with the nose.” 

i6o 





OUR VOICES. 


i6i 


Lest we might not catch his meaning he translated his Italian 
into Roman-French: 

“ Par le nez I Comprenez-vous f Coynme da f ” 

To make sure of our not losing the point, he grasped a swarthy, 
aquiline member between thumb and forefinger, and reiterated the 
clause sonorously. 

The girls disclaimed the imputation as indignantly as I after¬ 
ward heard an eminent American clerg3^man, resident on the Con¬ 
tinent, repel a criticism passed upon himself by an English parish¬ 
ioner. 

“ She told a friend of mine that she would enjoy my sermons 
more if I had not the ‘ national nasal twang! ’—a thing of which I 
was never accused before ! ” 

It was, I think, Bayard Taylor, who characterized the objection¬ 
able habit herein mentioned as the “ national catarrh.” Nobody is 
conscious of his own sins in this regard. 

One of the most eloquent of Southern pulpit orators once con¬ 
vulsed a company by asserting, with the full explosive might of a 
prominent olfactory organ, that he “ could detect a Yankee any¬ 
where, and in whatever disguise. They all speak through the nose, 
a trick from which the Southerner is entirely free.” 

I shall never lose the recollection of the luxury of hearkening 
to the clear, exquisitely modulated voice of a celebrated statesman 
and scholar, nor of the shock which succeeded his—“ Allow me to 
introduce my young kinsman ”—a graduate of two American and 
one foreign university, whose provincial “ twang ” was that of the 
typical Down-Easter. 

Evidently, domestic association, the training of the schools, and 
transatlantic travel are an ineffectual corrective combination in 


some instances. 


i 62 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


We are so used to the “ national catarrh ” that we have ceased 
to notice it, except in the more exaggerated forms. The most 
serious side of the question is suggested by those who insist that 
—setting aside ridicule and disclaim—it is the inevitable conse¬ 
quence of the American climate. I have heard this view of the 
subject ably sustained in a convocation of New England 
physicians ; a prominent New York citizen assured me (through 
his nose), “ There is not a resident of New York or Brooklyn who 
is not a sufferer from catarrh in some form.” 

It may be added that color is lent to this hypothesis by the 
lessening prevalence of nasal speech as one goes Southward, It is 
bad enough everywhere in these United States, but the coast lands, 
subject to freezing fogs, and humid northern valleys between 
mountains where the snow lies long, carry off the evil palm. So 
many and such great blessings have come to us with our eountry 
and climate, that we may bear this adjunct with meek fortitude, as 
we strive to endure other providential dispensations. 

If, at the same time, it is possible, by the introduction of new 
elocutionary methods into nursery and school, to lift the reproach 
from us, the consideration of curative measures is better worth 
legislative interference than civil service and sanatory reforms. 

Another characteristic of the national manner of speech has, to 
our shame be it said, application rather to the gentler, than the 
ruder sex. Illiterate men may, and do, as a rule, add loudness to 
nasality of tone. Plowmen talk to each other over interv’ening 
furrows in strident monotone. The artisan, whose invention of a 
trunk-rivet or faucet-stop has set his edueated children in “ our best 
society,” never modulates—or thinks it expedient to attempt the 
feat—the harshly sustained demi-shout that used to drown the 
clatter of machinery. 


OUR VOICES. 


163 


Clerg3^men, more than any other class of edncated men, are apt, 
in private life, to raise their voices above the snbdued pitch of well- 
bred conversation. This is especiall}^ true of popular preachers. 
The hortatory would seem to be their natural and onl}^ mode of 
articulate communication with their kind. Still, most men who 
were passably well brought up, and fairly schooled, and whose 
social status is good, do not habitually’- transgress the laws of good 
taste in the pitch and volume of tone. They may shriek upon the 
Gold Exchange, and thunder upon the hustings. At dinner and 
evening parties they have their lungs decorously in hand. 

Miss Alcott touches the blemish with a firm hand in her des¬ 
cription in “ Little Women ” of the Vevay party, where were 
collected, among the guests, “ a goodly number of sweet-faced, 
shrill-voiced American girls.” 

The American “ Lear ” may emphasize sorrowfully’- the old 
king’s praises of the voice “ that was ever soft and low.” 

“ ]My girls keep my foot on the soft pedal all the time,” said the 
fond mother of four. “ Their spirits make them forgetful of the 
laws of proportion.” 

Our girls behave better, in most respects, than any others upon 
the civilized globe. They are prettier than English women, dress 
better than French women, are better read than German women, 
and ont-scream them all. To a sensitive ear, the jargoning of 
a women’s lunch or afternoon tea is simply intolerable. It is not 
only that the example of loud speech is contagions, but if one 
would be heard, her voice must be raised to overbear the surround¬ 
ing Babel. Dumbness is the alternative. The round of after¬ 
noon receptions and high teas during the fashionable season— 
entertainments where the proportion of men is comparatively 
small—is excruciating or diverting, as nerves are delicate or tough. 




HOUSE AND HOME. 


164 

“ The peacocks’ gala-day! ” muttered a deep voice in my ear, 
as we entered the hall of a house presided over by a charming, high¬ 
bred hostess, and the tumult of shrieks and laughter bespoke her 
“ at home ” day. 

The phrase invariably returns to me in similar scenes. It is 
self-evident that, if all would moderate, as well as modulate their 
tones, everybody would be heard as easily as when all vociferate; 
that if nobody laughs loudly, the hum of revelry will not be riotous. 
But, for all of practical effect the aphorism exerts, it might as well 
never be known. 

Is it because our American girl “ goes out ” so much, and so 
learns to adjust her voice to the requirements of “the peacocks’ 
gala-days,” that she acquires the habit of loud, dissonant speech in 
the domestic circle, in otherwise quiet drawing-rooms, and—least 
pardonable of all—in places of public resort ? She spoils our enjoy¬ 
ment, and makes us ashamed for her in picture-galleries, by her 
high, thin chatter of nothing in general and herself in particular; 
flirts audibly between opera acts and concert numbers; entertains 
the occupants of hotel parlors with full particulars of the doings of 
“ our set,” and discusses the last bit of gossip across the aisle of a 
street-car. 

Chancing, one day, to get a table at Delmonico’s near that at 
which sat a stately chaperone and four pretty, elegantly dressed 
girls, I learned more of personal biography and family history than 
I could write down in an hour. Yet all of the party were evidently 
people in fashionable, and, presumably, reflned society. They com¬ 
ported themselves courteously toward each other, and expressed their 
meaning in well-chosen terms, but as if they had been separated by 
half the width of the great room. 

It may be that, as I once heard a daughter answer her mother’s 
caution “ not to speak so loudly ” in like circumstances, our girl is 


OUR VOICES. 


165 

“ not saying anything to be ashamed of.” To her honor be it said 
that she seldom does, in public or private. Daisy Miller was as 
innocent as she was indiscreet. It is the glory of the American 
woman, and of our land, that sinless liberty of speech and action on 
her part are never challenged uncharitably. But rectitude of char¬ 
acter and just taste should so interpenetrate her being as to compel 
their outward manifestation. A sensible thing, (quietly uttered, 
carries conviction as certainly as when shrilled jerkily. A bo7i mot 
is as brilliant, distinctly and softly spoken, as when hurled like a 
catapult at an interlocutor. Animation of manner and vivacity of 
speech are entirely compatible with gentleness. 

In the next chapter I shall have something to say as to our 
manner of pronouncing and putting our words together. I deal 
now merely with the quality and key of the voice. Dike a great 
many other personal characteristics, it is largely a matter of 
heredity. 

Once in a while, as one finds a strayed garden flower on a 
common, we hear the “ soft and low ” voice among unmistakably 
vulgar people. Not nearly so often, however, as we find metallic 
ring, thick gutturals, or a viragoish edge in the tones of an 
educated woman, that betray the plebeian strain of her forbears. 
The mother’s intonations descend almost surely to her daughters; 
the reed-like pipings of the son deepen into the father’s cadences. 

Home-training, then, has most to do with this much-neglected 
branch of education. 

The work should begin long before the child goes into the paid 
teacher’s hands. The use of the “ soft pedal ” and the legato 
movement in our home-harmonies is neglected to our national hurt. 
These are not pleasant things to say, or to hear. Vanity in our 
individual and social ways is as deep-seated in us as patriotic pride. 
I have but one apology to submit for plain talk which may seem 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


166 

gratuitously ungracious—an excuse offered in tlie form of a time- 
battered anecdote. 

John Sylvester bantered Ben Jonson to a rhyming-matcbj and 
led off witb : 

“ I, John Sylvester, 

Kissed your sister ? ” 

Rare Ben took his turn thus ; 

“ I, Ben Jonson, 

Kissed your wife.” 

“ That’s no rhyme,” quoth John. 

“ No ? ” drawled Ben. “ But it is true !” 

















How We Speak. 

I T ought to be as easy to speak correctly as to wound our mother 
tongue. 

So says Common Sense. 

It must be easier to speak incorrectly than to pay decent 
observance to the simplest rules of English grammar. 

So says sad Experience. 

Aphorism No. i is not intended to apply to the confessedly and 
altogether illiterate, who go astray as soon as they are born, speak¬ 
ing double negatives. When the man who shovels in your winter’s 
supply of coal, inquires, “ If you haint got no more jobs for him, jes’ 
now?” you scarcely remark the form of the query. Were it 
couched in simpler and irreproachable syntax, you would catch the 
unexpected sound, and be surprised thereby into the conclusion that 
the coal-heaver “ had seen better days.” 

“ Who is it ? ” asked I of the maid who brought me word that 
“ some one wished to see me on business.” 

“ She didn’t give me no name, mem. She is dressed plain, but 
she speaks like a real lady.” 

The caller was a broken-down teacher with a subscription-paper, 
asking funds to pay her entrance fee to the Home for Indigent 
Gentlewomen. Her shabby mourning and homely face had not 

167 




HOUSE AND HOME. 


168 

deceived the quick-eared Milesian, whose English was no better and 
no worse than that of her congeners. She recognized “ the lady ” 
by her tongue. 

I introduced my escort, on a trip up the North River, to a mag¬ 
nificent woman, with whom he found me in converse on the deck. 
The adjective is used advisedly. She was tall, portly, handsome, 
attired in perfect taste, and graceful in carriage. Her address was 
affable, her voice even and well-pitched. 

“ A fine looking woman,” was my companion’s comment as we 
resumed our promenade on the deck, after ten minutes’ chat with 
her. “ One of the nouveaux riches^ I suppose ? She carries off her 
new estate better than the majority of the guild. But she couldn’t 
help telling me that she ‘ never see no finer scenery abroad than 
that on the Hudson River. ’ ” 

Let these examples illustrate the fact, that with the uneducated 
masses, incorrect language is the rule, and the accord of the several 
parts of speech with one another, exceptional. The marvel to the 
thoughtful observer is—this truth being incontrovertible—that the- 
would-be-elegant-because-rich take so little pains to acquire the 
shibboleth, without which they must fight their way into the desired 
land of social equality with those they envy and emulate. 

It is a curious study—this persistent mangling of our vernacular. 
Why the maid who copies her mistress’ costume, and catches her 
very trick of tone and carriage so successfully as to remind the 
beholders of the years “ she has lived in the one place who hears 
the English tongue properly used by everybody in the house except 
her one fellow-servant, the cook, with whom she is not on friendly 
terms—should at the end of ten years, compound negatives and 
confuse tenses is more than a puzzle. It is a mystery. 

A stranger contrariety of cause and effect is that the self-made 
man who began his own creation at thirteen, worked his way up as 


HOW WE SPEAK. 


169 


errand-bo}', porter, shipping-clerk, salesman and partner, to a place 
among merchant-princes and a seat in congress, should never, with 
all his getting, get understanding of the practical bearings of such 
rules as “The verb must agree with its nominative case in number 
and person.” He more frequently learns to speak a foreign 
language grammatically than to amend his management of his own. 
Quick of apprehension and adaption to circumstances in the matter 
of costume and household ceremonies, his untamable tongue con¬ 
firms shrewd St. James in every sentence. Time and observation 
make him a connoisseur in wines, but in modest appreciation of the 
accomplishment, he tells you confidentially,—“ There ain’t no 
manner of use in a man pretendin’ to be a connoishure without he 
has had experience.” 

He is probably fond of polysyllables, selecting them as his wife 
buys her diamonds—for their size. He generally employs them 
intelligently, too, accounting each as a “ big thing,” concerning 
which it behooves him to be circumspect. The effect of the phrases 
containing the ponderous prizes is as if his wife’s diamonds had 
been set at a blacksmith’s. 

The strangest of all the curious circumstances attendant upon 
the habitual disregard of grammatical laws is the unconsciousness 
of the offender. Our self-made man and the wife he has tinkered 
into “ a match-article,” court, as ornaments to their drawing-room, 
eminent scholars and literary lights, domestic and foreign; admire 
intensely in them the facile propriety of expression in which they 
are themselves deficient, and never suspect the effect of the contrast 
they offer. Does the inability to discern the difference lie in the 
ear, or the intellect ? 

I have called this insensibility the most singular of the paradoxes 
connected with our subject. May I retract the statement, and 
substitute the anomaly of people, born well and bred well, educated 


170 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


according to the most approved methods, and moving in refined 
social circles, whose foibles of speech approach in number, and rival 
in heinousness the direct lingual faults of illiteracy ? 

People who drop the final g from participles, and other words 
ending in “ with the constancy the cockney exhibits in 

misplacing h. ^ 

People who say “ He donH like it,” without a suspicion that the 
conjoined abbreviation stands for “ He do 7iot like it.” 

People who inquire, “ You ready? ” “ You going? ” and, 
sometimes, “ Where you been ? ” 

People who never, by any chance, say “ Between you and me,” 
but, with the steadfastness of a holy purpose, “ Between you and 
/./” 

People who pride themselves upon the elegant accuracy of every 
sentence formed by their lips, and tell you in cultivated euphonious¬ 
ness of accent, “ I have traveled some in England, Russia, Turkey, 
or Australia,” and, “ I have not coughed any all night.” 

People who have been on intimate terms with Eindley Murray 
and his colleagues for forty years, and not learned that amH is not 
tolerated by any of them, being an un-parseable word. 

People who consider the fact that they were born south of Mason 
and Dixon’s line warrant for ignoring the dictum—“ After the words 
like and imlike^ the preposition to or imto is understood,” and cru¬ 
cify our ears by telling us on all possible occasions, “ I feel like I 
should do ” so-and-so, and “ He looked like he meant it.” Who as 
musically and audaciously say, “ I am a heap better,” or “a heap 
worse,” 

I heard a D. D., F. F. V., say in a sei:mou, “ It does seem like 
the Lord has some great and gracious purpose to fulfill,” etc. 
And a few minutes thereafter—“ I expect that this is the proper 
interpretation of this passage.” 


HOW WE SPEAK. 


171 

There are people, on the other hand, who, born and brought up 
in the shadow of Yale, roll the phrase—“ I want that you should,” 
like a savory and insoluble morsel under their tongues, and not a 
few, who, as Mr. Howells’ Minister Sewell regrets, will—albeit they 
are Har\’ard graduates—say, to the close of well-spent lives,“ I don’t 
know asy 

People—this final count is written with groanings unutterable 
—who, with the best intentions conceivable (benevolent and syn- 
taxical), never let slip an opportunity of using the pronoun 
when the antecedent noun is in the singular number. “ If a 
person thinks they can do that.” “ If anybody has lost anything, 
they can apply at the desk.” “ I was talking with some one the 
other day, and they said,” etc., etc. 

None of the phrases cited as foibles of speech trench upon the 
debatable ground of language. One and all, they are glaring 
defects, flaws in gems, which lessen their value irretrievably. The 
critical inspector instantly discounts the intelligence or conscien¬ 
tiousness of him who tenders them. 

That those who are guilty of lapses of this sort know better, 
does not exculpate them, or relieve the listener who respects his 
noble vernacular too truly to condone the unseemly familiarities 
that approximate insult. When the delinquents are those who 
assume to instruct others, the foible becomes guilt. 

A distinguished author, at a reception given in honor of her 
visit to a certain town, pressed the hand of a sister-writer who was 
introduced to her, with the cordial—“ You and I had ought to have 
met before.” 

An eminent lecturer upon scientific subjects remarked at a 
dinner-party, “ The hall was not sufficiently het to-day.” 

The principal of a collegiate institute announced, during the 
commencement exercises, that the presentation to himself of a 


172 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


memorial from the pupils was a “ change in the programme made 
entirely ujibeknownst to himself.” 

He was taken by surprise by the testimonial, and the luckless 
phrase escaped him while off his guard. It should have been 
impossible for him to make use of it in any circumstances. If he 
had never said it before, he would not have said it then. 

It is impossible to speak too well. Upon each of us rests the 
obligation to redeem his daily conversation from slovenliness. 
Ease and purity of diction are not, of necessity, pedantic. One 
may speak with unfailing correctness, yet not mount verbal stilts. 

We owe it to ourselves, to our associates, and to the cause of 
letters, to set, in honest severity, a watch before the door of our 
lips. 






The Candy Curse. 


^^^ROSSING the East River one day, I found myself next to 
the young mother of a baby. It was a large-eyed, pale- 
faced baby, prettily dressed, and held in a claw-like hand a 
stick of peppermint candy. The mother pinned her own 
embroidered handkerchief about the little one’s neck to catch the 
pinkish drops from the moistened confection. 

“ How old is she ? ” asked I, with the free-masonic faith that 
my interest would be appreciated, which appertains to motherhood 
the world over. 

‘‘ Six months,” returned the proud parent, who evidently 
belonged to the second-rate middle class of American matrons. 

Is she healthy ? ” 

Well, not very. She suffers dreadfully with colic, but that 
doesn’t mean anything. She’ll come ’round all right in time.” 

This particular specimen of bab3diood entered upon a career of 
vice a trifle earlier than common even for a United States infant of 
the gentler sex. I hazard nothing, however, in asserting that 
seventy out of every hundred babies born in our favored land know 
the taste and consequent pangs of the accursed thing by the time 
they are eighteen months old. Perhaps fifty in the hundred are 
allowed, as yearlings, to suck the “ harmless ” gum-drop and try 
their tender teeth upon the striped lollypop. 


a 


a 


17.1 



174 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


A zealous temperance crusader ran a tilt, not long ago, against 
brandy-drops and rummy-hearted caramels, declaring, truthfully 
euough, that they would implant in the juvenile consumers of the 
syrupy bon-bons a taste for ardent spirits. The mother who keeps 
her bantling “ good,” while she talks or works, by relays of candy, 
more surely ereates a craving which can bring no benefit and may 
work infinite evil. 

The boy usually outgrows the inordinate appetite for confec¬ 
tionery, or indulges it in moderation and privately. It is a girl’s 
trick, and a woman’s vice. 

Dr, Grace Peckham tells us in a paper on “The Family Sweet 
Tooth,” that each member of every household in the United States 
consumes annually forty pounds of sugar. She subjoins, apropos 
to lavish consumption of the useful saccharine—“ That it blunts 
the appetite, impedes the digestion, and mysteriously wreaks 
vengeance on the liver, cannot be doubted.” 

I know families—and not a few of them—in which each feminine 
member averages a pound of cand}^ per week. It is not an uncom¬ 
mon thing for a couple of school-girls to eat a pound of Huyler’s 
‘ “ butter-cups,” or “ Maillard’s chocolates,” or “ Costello’s marrons 
glacees^'^ or “ Arnaud’s jelly-creams ” at a sitting. I have seen the 
belle of a summer resort dispose with apparent comfort of five pound 
boxes in as many da3^s. So well is this passion of the maiden’s 
soul understood by him whose life-long business it is to make her 
happy, that he feeds it with the regularity of grist to a mill, her 
rub}^ mouth being the hopper. 

Candy-shops spring up almost as rapidly as drinking-saloons in 
our cities; every cross-roads couutrj-store has its jar of stony or 
crumbly “ sweeties,” as our English cousins name them; the boy 
who supplies passengers in our out-going and in-coming trains with 
the daily paper, without which the patriot mind cannot enter upon 


THE CANDY CURSE. 


^75 


the day’s action or the night’s rest, deafens us on alternate rounds 
with laudation of “ Broken-Candy,” and, lest some weary traveler 
might escape temptation, the news stands in every station protrude 
a sly recommendation to “ drop a nickel in the slot, and receive a 
package of delicious bon-bons ! ” 

A young man, walking up Fifth avenue, was the edified witness 
of a rencontre between two pairs of fashionable damsels at the 
junction of the avenue with Thirty-fourth street. 

“ Do come to the meeting of our Literary Club this afternoon,” 
cried one brace in concert. “ ]\Irs. S., the celebrated elocutionist, 
3’ouknow, reads ‘The Coming Man,’ while we work. Just the 
j oiliest, pleasantest way of spending a quiet hour yon can imagine ! ” 

“ What kind of fancy-work do you take ? ” 

“ Oh! ” a giggled duet, “ We eat candy, and wait for ‘ The 
Coming IMan,’ you know ! ” 

“ Eat candy! ” When does not the girl of the period devour it ? A 
sallow child of fourteen was a guest in my house for some weeks. Her 
mother committed her to me with many injunctions to extreme care 
and tenderness. She had never been strong, and was rapidly fall¬ 
ing into the confirmed delicacy so common in the growing girl, that 
neither mother or daughter is as much ashamed of it as she should 
be of such a wretched piece of work. The anxious but resigned 
parent in this case, “ supposed,” as did my ferry boat acquaintance, 
that “ it would all come right by-and-by.” 

“ It ” was very far wrong now. The girl, dwarfed in stature, 
and yellow-brown of skin, was a prey to dyspepsia and sick head¬ 
aches. For four successive nights, I was summoned to her room to 
administer remedies for cramp and nausea. She was a sweet, patient 
little thing, and unaffectedly distressed by the trouble she gave. 
“ But she was subject to these attacks. So was mamma. Mamma 
supposed she inherited them.” 


176 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


As she turned ou the pillow in moaning out the borrowed phrase^ 
I heard the rustle of paper. Thrusting ni}^ hand under the bolster, 
I drew forth a paper of chocolate comfits and cocoanut-balls. 

In no wise abashed by my horrified look, the sufferer explained 
languidly; 

“ I always like to have some candy where I can eat it in the 
night, if I awake and feel lonesome. Mamma used to leave a paper 
of gum-drops under my pillow, when I wasn’t more than a baby, 
so’s I wouldn’t be afraid to go to sleep in the dark. It’s a great deal 
of company. Mamma calls candy, my ‘ bedside comforter.’ ” 

Inquiry showed that her father allowed her twenty-five cents a 
week for “ candy-money.” Of course, she bought only the 
cheapest kinds in order to get enough to last. 

Confiscation of the poisonous stuff, and gentle remonstrance 
with the tractable child against the habit I could not condemn 
unsparingly, since her mother had inculcated it, wrought a rapid 
and blessed change. In a month’s time, she was plump, rosy, and 
so well that my heart ached when I had to return her to her natural 
guardians. 

There is little or no nourishment in sugar, as an exclusive 
article of diet. But if babies, school-girls, society-belles, mothers 
and grandmothers would satisfy their lust for sweets with pure 
sugar—or even the sugar of commerce—the mischief done would 
be reduced to a minimum. 

Dr. Edson enumerates among the substances added for increas¬ 
ing the weight of candy—“ Terra alba, kaolin (decomposed 
feldspar), whiting, starch and ground-quartz.” 

Among the coloring substances used to make our candy pleasant 
to the eye, he gives arsenic, chromium and lead. Adulterations for 
flavor are managed by help of a distillation of “ rancid butter, wood 
alcohol and oil of vitrol, into essence of pine-apple; also, by 


THE CANDY CURSE. 


177 


fusel oil and prussic acid,” while “ a very fragrant, fruity essence 
may be made of rotten cheese by treating it with oil of vitriol and 
bichromate of potash.” 

Much of the cheap chocolate sold at corner candy stores is mixed 
with clay, colored with burnt umber. 

The taste for sweets is natural, and, if indulged within bounds, 
innocent. The craving for puddings, ices and sweetmeats, at the 
conclusion of a meal, leads to the introduction of healthful acids 
into the busy stomach, which neutralize alkalis and oils, and help 
on the specific end of assimilation. 

The practice of munching, at all times and seasons, bon-bons, 
expensive or cheap, until the stomach and that mysterious potentate, 
the liver, are provoked to vengeance sure and dire, is what I have 
called it—a senseless vice, and a crying CURSE. 





With Our Boys. 

¥ ¥ ^ILLIAM WIRT—tlmn whom no more graceful and 
1 ■ I genial gentleman ever lived, even in liis day wHen the 
“ gentleman of the old sehool ” flourished and was 
the fashion—admonished his daughter to practice 
sedulously “the small, sweet courtesies of life.” 

We often repeat the phrase, forgetful of its authorship. Obe¬ 
dience to the injunction is, I fear me, more rapidly lapsing into 
disuse than the sage of a century ago could have foreseen in his 
darkest imaginings. 

The gentleman of the old school honored me by a half-hour’s 
talk at a party the other evening. He began or ended every 
sentence with “ Madame,” with a slight and charming emphasis 
upon the latter syllable. He wore a white cravat, and gloves, and 
a dress-coat. Two fingers of one hand were gently insinuated 
between the second and third buttons of his vest; the other hand 
was thrown lightly across his back. He stood erect, while younger 
men lolled over the backs of chairs and sofas, or leaned against the 
wall. His silvery head was slightly inclined toward me, and when 
I spoke, he listened without wandering eye or uneasy motion. 

“ In the olden time w’’e needed not to be reminded to select part¬ 
ners for the dance, or to escort ladies to the supper-room,” he said, 
offering his arm to me with a bow that was a compliment in itself, 

178 


I 











GENTLEMAN OF THt OLD SCHOOL. 




























































































WITH OUR BOYS. 


i8i 


without the neat speech that entreated the honor. “ Now, the 
host’s most arduous duty is charging into the herds of men in 
comers and halls, to drive them through the bare forms of civilit}". 
It is lamentable, madame! appalling to one who has noted the 
progress of the evil! ” 

I looked out the verb “ to herd,” that night. “To unite or 
associate as beasts. To feed or run in collections. Most beasts 
manifest a disposition to herd.^'' 

Reams of paper are blotted, and thousands of cubic feet of air 
wasted, in proving that a woman is unsexed by qualifying herself 
to earn her bread, should need arise. The man who ceases to regard 
his strength as a protection for her weakness; whose asperities 
disdain the tempering of her graces; who marks out for himself a 
path so narrow that she cannot walk therein at his side—may not 
be unsexed, but he is dehumanized. The taint of the herd clings 
to him everywhere. Under such leadership the disposition spreads 
fast and far. Our boys learn the stare, the scamper, the rush, the 
crowding and hustling, by the time they leave off the skirts they 
detest as “ girls’ clothes.” 

“ I shall never invite that person to my house again,’ said a not 
very fastidious matron to me not long ago. “ He does not know 
enough to touch his hat to a lady in the street.” 

I recalled the censure in the course of a morning walk taken in 
the streets of a large city which shall be nameless. I was nodded 
at, and to, more or less familiarly, by a butcher’s errand-boy, by 
a candidate for a seat in the U. S. Senate, by a Judge of the Supreme 
Court, by a wealthy merchant rolling down town in his carriage, by 
an eminent lawyer born of aristocratic stock, and by the smiling 
superintendent of a Sabbath school. 

The day was bitter, and the butcher’s boy had no gloves. I forgave 


i 82 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


him for keeping his hands in his pockets, but not for whistling a 
negro melody as he passed me. 

In another city, I have been lately waited upon (?) by a dry- 
goods clerk to the measure of “ Rock-a-by, Baby,” hummed over 
and over, under his waxed moustache, and, upon putting a civil 
question to the proprietor of another “ genteel ” establishment, I 
was almost stunned into astonished silence by a vociferated—“What 
say ! ” flung into my face. No wonder that the old-world peasant 
who stands, hat in hand, before “ the lady ” who hires him at Castle 
Garden, soon recognizes in the omission to remove or touch his 
head-covering, the sign-patent of free-and-enlightened citizenship, 
and nods as royally as does his mistress’s husband. In the matter 
of hats, our school-boys might be so many Quakers. The instinct¬ 
ive pluck at the cap at the approach of a lady-acquaintance, the 
bow and smile, the yielding the right of way at crossings and 
doorways, the spring forward to open and hold back gates, are as 
graceful and becoming now as in our grandmother’s sight, but have 
a pathetic charm from their rarity. 

Another cheap and easy declaration of masculine sovereignty is 
the contempt for, and abolition of the empty titles af&xed by old- 
fashioned custom to the names of seniors, superiors in rank or 
learning, 3^oung ladies, and even school-girls—to these last by 
virtue of their, then, honored sex. The stately graciousness of 
Hon. Edward Everett, statesman, scholar and philanthropist, did 
not deter the college lad over the way from alluding to him as “ old 
Ned Everett, you know,” Phineas Fungus, Esq., is enormousl}' 
rich, the mayor of his native town, and might be governor of the 
State if he willed it. But the dra^^men and porters chat at the 
doors of his warehouses, of “ Phinny ” and “Old Fun,” unless 
when they are prematurel}’- reverential. Then he is “ the Boss.” 


WITH OUR BOYS. 


183 

Familiarity of speech leads as naturally to freedom of touch as 
brooks to rivers, or neglect of “ small, sweet courtesies ” to overt 
boorishness. I do not exaggerate in asserting that the feminine 
portion of Young America that affects picnics, singing-schools, 
straw-rides, church sociables and surprise parties, needs as much to 
be ticketed “ Hands off! ” as the valuables in an art-exhibition. 
When the finger of a man who is not my husband or kinsman is 
pressed upon my shoulder to point a story, or attract attention; 
when a forward youth fillips my arm with his folded glove at an 
evening party with :—“ I say ! ” I may be, and am offended, but in 
a quiet, matronly sort. When I see a thoughtless school-girl sit, 
hand-in-hand, on steamboat or car with a man whom I know to be 
a mere acquaintance, or the opera-cloak pressed long and closely 
about the pretty young thing whom her escort wraps up officiously 
before leading her to her carriage; when girls are hauled and 
pushed and buffeted in romping games, and in dances that are 
nothing better, as the herd might jostle one another, my blood heats 
with more indignant fire. man will needlessly^ much less 

wantonly^ put a woma^i up07i the defe7isive. The best that can be 
said of him who claps the lady-guest on the back as he might her 
husband, or the coxcomb, who, without her permission, dares to 
omit the “ Miss ” in accosting his girl-friend is, as I said in a former 
chapter, that he “ knows no better.” If they guessed how often the 
plea is urged in extenuation of their bovine gambols by charitable 
friends with juster ideas of the decencies and amenities* of society, 
the shock to self-conceit might be a wholesome lesson. 

I have read the letters of my great-grandfather. Colonel under 
the commission of the Continental Congress, and a sturdy Puritan 
patriarch, to the wife of many years’ standing. His tenderest 
epithet is :—“ My excellent Wife.” He usually addresses her as, 
“ Honored Madam,” I would that any spoken or written word of 


184 


HOUSE AND HOAIE. 


those who note, sorrowfully, with the courtly old censor I have 
quoted, the progress of the decadence in manners, if not in morals, 
since the age we deride as formal and severe, could ingraft upon the 
social free-thinking of this, something of the outward deference to 
womankind —as such —that lends exquisite, if quaint, flavor to the 
family histories of that date. 









Our Boy, and Our Boy’s Father. 


WITTY man once told a story to a company of friends 
apropos to a talk upon the best way of bringing up bo3'-s 
I ^ without spoiling them by indulgence, or estranging them 
▼ by unwise strictness. 

I cannot give the anecdote the raciness imparted by the witty 
man’s manner and tone, but I reproduce the matter. The heartache 
that outlived the laugh which applauded the couclusion, is with me 
still. 


“A Boston clergyman,” said the witty man, “ consulted one of 
his deacons as to the evil courses of his (the B. C.’s) son, and the 
possibilities of curing him of them. 

“ ‘ He has rubbed into people’s minds the unkind old saying 
about clergymen’s sons,’ complained the father. ‘ He is twenty-five 
years old, and has been nothing but a sorrow to his mother and 
myself, since he was expelled from college at seventeen. He drinks 
hard, gambles and loafs ; comes home drunk every night; frequents 
the lowest places of amusement, and takes pleasure in vile company. 
Nothing good has any hold upon him. I am at my wit’s end. My 
wife is dying slowly of a broken heart. What would you advise ? ’ 
“ The deacon was a deep thinker, and a slow talker. He took 
off his glasses and rubbed them with his pocket handkerchief, 
while he swung himself gently back and forth in his revolving 
desk-chair. 


185 





i86 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


“ ‘ Maybe you haven’t made a companion of your boy, doctor— 
haven’t entered into his feelings and interests as you might. That 
works pretty well, sometimes. Go to hear Booth and Barrett with 
him, instead of letting him stray into variety theaters by himself, 
or with even worse company. Go to a horse-race with him, and 
talk horse now and then. Take him out to drive with you, and let 
him choose the horse and hold the reins. Go to see good pictures 
and hear good music with him, and don’t mind setting up a supper 
for him afterward at Parker’s or Young’s. See if you can’t interest 
him in your affairs and talk. Take him to the top of the State 
House and point out the changes in the country and city, since you 
were his age. Touch him up on politics and history. Stimulate 
his pride as a citizen of a great and growing country. Bring in 
the Boston tea-party, and John Hancock and Fanenil Hall. While 
you are talking, work him nearer and nearer tlie edge of the roof, 
and when you’ve got him where you want him, give him a smart 
shove and break his blamed neck! That’s the only way to cure 
your boy ! ’ ” 

The element of the unexpected and the incongruous raised a 
general laugh, as I have remarked. The terrible touch of truth in 
the grotesque climax pricks like a thorn in the remembrance of the 
story. 

Girls are brought up like hop-vines, convolvuli and other 
climbers. If there be a little more wood in some than in others, 
wires are substituted for strings, and the training fingers are plied 
more frequently than with succulent stems, each terminal bud of 
which points naturally in the direction of the next needful coil and 
cling. 

Boys grow up—manipulate and dictate as we will. The vouno- 
tree takes shape early, makes wood, bark, and branches after its 
kind. The attempt to make wall-fruit of the sturdy thing by 


OUR BOY, AND OUR BOY’S FATHER. 


187 


binding it to espalier and bricks, is a continual conflict of wills. 
Bound in on one side, the rebel flings audacious arms abroad on the 
other, twists, and writhes, and knots into ungainliness. 

“ Turns ugly,” we say of the boy. The mother sheds ineffectual 
tears that Dick 3^awns aggressively or drops asleep over his book 
during the quiet home-evenings she, “ father,” and the girls “ do so 
enjoy.” Father has his newspaper, mother her mending-basket, 
and the girls their fancy-work, over which thej’- twitter like wrens 
in nesting-time. Dick is not interested in their chirpings, nor has 
he reached the dressing-gown-slippers-and-evening-paper age. Even 
if he be a student, night-fall, which brings the longing for domestic 
quiet to elderly world-workers, suggests fun—stir—larks—to him. 
It is as natural for him to feel the inclination to leap domestic 
bounds as for a colt to jump the paddock-fence for a gallop upon 
the upland moors. 

The world is before the immature man. It is his to conquer, 
and he would try his coming strength in a preliminary wrestle, 
once in a while. At least, he must reconnoiter. His whole nature 
is uneasy for action. We may know that he is not equipped for it, 
but he does not. 

The English have a word that well describes our boy in the 
transition stage. They say he is “ bumptious.” If, in the first 
dress-coat which, with the native youth, now usurps the place in 
ambition and affection once held by the first pair of “ real men’s 
boots,” he reminds us, in this same bumptiousness, of a pollywog 
who has developed.one pair of legs, but not parted with his tail, we 
smile affectionately, and are almost sorry to think how mortified he 
will be, in the inevitable days to come, in the recollection of the 
absurd figure he cut. Mentally and morally, he is what he appears 
to ns physically—all growing legs and arms. The inches increase 


188 HOUSE AND HOME. 

so fast that he has not time to get used to one before another 
is here. 

Nobody—to the senior’s shame be it said—is more intolerant of 
the lad’s figurative and literal lurchings and lunges, than pater¬ 
familias. Men have shorter memories of their youthful follies than 
have women. When Paul put away childish things, he threw them 
clean out of sight. Dick, fretting on his curb, hungering for green 
pastures while he is fed upon the w^ell-cured hay pater munches 
contentedly, finds it more difficult to believe that his parent was 
ever coltish, than does the sober old roadster himself. In the 
recollection of that by-gone period—its follies, scrapes and 
longings—on the father’s part, lies the boy’s salvation. 

“ I fines 3^ou joost noting at all! ” said the Dutch justice to the 
prisoner convicted of having got drunk on gin-sling. “ I vonce got 
droonk mit gin-sling mineselluf! ” 

The attempt to convince Dick that his father has always jogged 
along the well-sprinkled highway of the respectability which is its 
own reward, will, if successful, fix a great gulf between the pair, 
just when the youngster’s need of help is sorest. 

“ Papa was such a pious duffer at school that he wouldn’t under¬ 
stand, so I came to 3?'ou,” was the prelude to a penitent confession 
of boyish misdoing. “ You can’t know how it is yourself, of course 
— ” stammering, as a faint smile crept tremulously to the con¬ 
fidante’s lips ;—“ only, you see, mothers somehow make allowances 
for ever3^thing.” 

The father who does—to steal the lad’s slang—“ know how it is 
himself, ” and is not ashamed to quote his past experience in warn¬ 
ing or encouragement, has a purchase upon the 3'oung fellow’s 
confidence nothing else can give. Our “ B. C.” did not begin the 
business of entering into his son’s feelings by rejuvenation of him¬ 
self, early enough. The egregious injustice of trying to drag a boy 




















































OUR BOY, AND OUR BOY’S FATHER. 


191 

up to the plane occupied by a man of forty, when the man of forty 
will not, or cannot, step down for a while into the tracks left on the 
lower road by his own rash, uncertain feet, is unreasonable, selfish, 
and monstrous. 

“ Out, again ! ” said a merchant-father, lowering his newspaper 
to frown over it at his son, a handsome stripling of eighteen, in 
correct evening costume, who looked into the family sitting-room to 
get his mother to put a rosebud in his button-hole. “ The third 
time this week ! Where, now f ” 

The lad, respectfully enough, named a neighbor’s house. 

“ There is to be a little dance there, this evening, and I promised 
to come in.” 

“ When I was your age, young man, I spent most of my even¬ 
ings at home with my parents, and was in bed usually by nine 
o’clock. I don’t know what the world is coming to ! But there is 
no use talking ! If you ride to the devil, you must go ! ” 

The boy’s sunny face darkened; he bit something back from 
his lips before he laid them silently to his mother’s cheek. The 
father noted the caress, and remarked upon it when the son 
had gone. 

“ If you would use your influence to better purpose, the fellow 
might be good for something.” 

The wife’s answer is worth repeating; 

“It is as natural for young people to get together for social 
amusements as for old people to hug the fireside, and long for quiet 
and rest. If we do not encourage the boy to have harmless pleas¬ 
ures at proper times, we tempt him to seek hurtful pleasures at 
unlawful hours. If he could not go into society without me, I 
would leave you to read and doze here alone and accompany him, at 


192 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


any and every cost of personal convenience. I would rather sacri¬ 
fice myself than him. My servuce to my generation is nearly done. 
His has just begun.” 

The father resumed his paper with a grunt that might mean 

dissent or contempt. It was not sympathy. 

* 

To me, the firm gentleness of the mother’s reply was like the 
echo of Other Words, in which is the healing of the world: “ For 
I came not to call the righteous^ but sinners to repentance^'' 



1 



Literary Life of the Household. 


S OME households have none. Households wherein money 
abounds, and taste in the matter of furniture and dress is 
distinctly evinced. There is even a pleasing display of the 
surface aestheticism which, with many, passes for culture, 
having come into fashion with galvanized (nickel) silver, and 
machine lace, and cotton-backed velvet. There are still other 
households where shams are abhorred and in which a part of 
religion is to have “ everything of the best.” The father is a solid 
citizen, who reads one first-class journal through every day, and 
votes in church and politics on the right side, as his father did 
before him. The mother is a wise Eady Bountiful at home, and in 
neighborhood; thrifty, sensible, kindly and not uneducated, as 
education went, thirty years back of us. Sons and daughters— 
albeit known to non-fashionists as “ society men and women ”— 
are irreproachable in character, courteous, popular and alive to the 
fact that the world moves to different measure than the minuet 
music of lang syne. 

All these representative families have social, domestic, some of 
them religious lines,—none what maybe styled, according to the most 
liberal interpretation, literary life. Let me specify at this point that 
this broad rendering is here applied to what is, in itself, an elastic 





194 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


definition,—the second given b}'’ my oft-consulted Jexicon, of the 
word “ literary,”—“ Versed in, or acquainted with literature.” 

The degree of acquaintanceship with which we have to do is 
what may be termed amateur cognition, in contradistinction to pro¬ 
fessional mastery ; appreciation of literature as an art, not profound 
understanding of it as a science. Such knowledge as any of us may 
have of fashions in dress and household decoration, and political 
economy, without professional interest in the topic. 

In the consideration of our subject we will, therefore, exclude 
the families of editors, publishers and authors. Unless the intel¬ 
lectual cuticle and epidermis be phenomenally tough, the members 
of these must take in through the pores some measure of literary 
knowledge, or, at least, appreciation. 

Wise sociologists are beginning to admit that the system of 
compulsory education, while excellent so far as it goes, does not go 
far or deep enough. It is, in effect, harrowing, not plowing. Every 
teacher of youth who brings to bear upon his calling more than me¬ 
chanical fidelity knows against what odds he labors who tries to 
undo in six hours what has been wrought in double that time. 
How grateful is the task of drilling the seeds of knowledge into 
prepared soil! Such an instructor could describe, with marvellous 
accuracy, what manner of parents and home influence each of his 
pupils has, although he may never have entered the doors of one of 
them. It is the family life that gives mental tone and character, no 
less than moral. The child who hears ungrammatical speech at 
home, studies grammar as a dead language. His desk-mate, who 
meets frequent allusion in his lessons in history, geography and 
natural philosophy, to matter she has heard talked of in the home 
circle, is at once on familiar ground. At the best, the province of 
the schools is only to dig a foundation and build walls. The mis¬ 
cellaneous information picked up, the learner knows not how; the 


LITERARY LIFE OF THE HOUSEHOLD 


195 


habit of collecting and classifying material which is acquired by asso- 
ication with trained minds; the dwelling in an atmosphere of 
thought and intelligence;—these furnish the rest, are the means 
by which the edifice grows into compactness and beauty. 

The inference is patent. Where this kind of education is 
withheld, the child sustains irreparable loss. It is a wrong, 
unavoidably or carelessly inflicted, that, throughout his life, stamps 
the self-made man as one who “ had few advantages in youth.” 
The pat phrase gives the popular verdict on this head. It matters 
not to what fair proportions he may attain—mentally, politically or 
socially—there is ever that about him which betrays his tribal 
antecedents, be it only a conciousness of altitude, a toss and 
pluminess of air, as of a tall reed that has shot aloft out of a tangle 
of coarse grasses and mud-flags. More palpable indications of his 
eariy disadvantages are provincial tricks of speech, and lingual 
lapses into glaring faults of grammatical construction. Our rising 
man tells his friends that he “ wants they should visit with ” him 
at his own house, he “ guesses ” and “ presumes likely,” and, as 
the president of a board of education, announces publicly that 
“ children had ought to be learned to speak correct from their 
cradles ” This same president had attended a public school 

for twelve years. He possessed much crude mental strength 
which, combined with sharp perceptive powers and infinite energy, 
made him a valuable citizen and a millionaire. His speech was the 
vernacular of his father’s house, and he never unlearned it. He 
thought better than he talked, or he would never have got his head 
above the mud. 

The “society young people” we spoke of, just now, early lop 
off provincialisms and eschew double negatives, whether their 
parents follow their example or not, avoiding verbal blunders as 
they shun mistakes in the etiquette of the table or in the combin- 


196 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


/ 


ation of colors. But, with so large a majority of them that I am 
ashamed to state it, even the literature of their own language is a 
sealed well from the day they leave school. Beyond a few novels, 
usually of the lightest caliber, or lighter tales in weekly or monthly 
periodicals, the girls read little, the young men less, the parents 
least of all. It is a marked exception in a rule, terrible in its 
universality, when the Business Man, whose whole heart and soul 
and being are in the craft that gains his wealth, reads anything 
except The Newspaper. , The capitalized words go together as 
naturally as knife and fork, shovel and tongs. If he be a very 
successful Business Man, the strong probability is that he considers 
love of literature a weakness, and what he calls a “ bookworm,” as 
scarcely worthy of the scientific classification of the creeping thing 
whose name he borrows—“An animal of the inferior grand division 
of Articulates.” Book-makers under-rank Liimbrici in his esti¬ 
mation. Such an eminently successful citizen (who might have 
sat for the portrait of Silas Eapham) once told me that he would 
not have a library in his house for fear his boys might pass their 
evenings “ fooling over books.” He—their sire—“could not have 
made money faster if his skull had been crammed chock full of 
college learning.” 

Yet some of his brethren attempt the role of Maecenas in the 
matter of pictures and music, conning a limited list of florid art 
catchw'ords, and rolling them like unctuous morsels, or a quid of 
tobacco, in their mouths. Paintings, statuary, opera-box and cham¬ 
ber-concerts represent money; the possession of them pre-supposes 
depth of purse. It would be singular if the girl who “ does not care ' 
to read ” should, after marriage, develop a taste for literature. If 
there exist within her any natural love for such pursuits, the com¬ 
parative leisure of maidenhood will foster it into active growth. 
Association with people who take it for granted that, as Tvliss Edge- 





LITERARY LIFE OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 


197 


worth’s Mrs. Harcourt quietly reminds her foolish visitor—“ Every¬ 
body reads now-a-days ”—may engender a disposition and create a 
conscience in this direction while the mind is immature and the 
character plastic. But I have yet to meet the unintellectual, frivo¬ 
lous girl who, as matron and mother, learned to love books and 
sought, voluntarily, to repair the deficiencies in her early mental 
training. The man of letters who dreams of marrying the beauty 
who “ hardly ever opens a book,” and educating her into a help¬ 
meet for his erudite self, would do well to ponder the summing up 
of David Copperfield’s experiment in this kind of agriculture: “ It 
began to dawn upon me,” he says, “ that perhaps my child-wife’s 
mind was already formed.” 

If the father’s contemptuous neglect of literature deserves the 
epithet I have applied to it-—“ terrible ”—what shall we say of the 
mother’s indifference, her contented settling down into what is, for 
all practical and beneficent purposes, illiteracy ? 

“Who is she? ” the stereotyped inquiry of the cynical chief of 
police when a crime of unusual atrocity was reported to him, may 
be applied more pertinently when the social, moral, or intellectual 
status of a family of young people is brought up for judgment. 
Whatever may be the father’s proclivities, the children, in their 
nonage, either follow their mother’s lead, or override, if they do not 
also despise her. (Yet there are married women who deafen Heaven 
and the public with cries for “ Higher missions!”) If the mother’s 
books are valued friends, from communion with which she draws 
sustenance for heart and mind, if their essence interpenetrates her 
speech and refines manner and visage, her offspring cannot escape 
the reflection, of color and light from the same source. 

If these things be so, and nobody denies them, why is not every 
mother a reader, and, through reading, a learner for the sake of 
imparting what she knows to those she loves best ? I anticipate 


198 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


the reply as certainly as if it were already spoken in 1113^ ear. I 
wish I had recorded the number of times it has grated on my 
tympanum and grieved my soul. 

“ Nobody would enjo}'- reading more than I! ” then the conven¬ 
tional sigh of resignation, “ but I cannot make time for it.” 

A plea as false—I mean it!—as false as if the speaker were not 
a Christian woman, the rule of whose life is to keep the Decalogue 
in letter and in spirit. Women say it with tears in their eyes, 
coupling it with the confession that the}^ do not read a book through 
in a year, who, as school-girls, carried off prizes for composition and 
belles lettres^ women who “ make ” three or four hours, fe?' die?n, for 
embroidery and housework their serv-ants are paid to do, and, 
least necessary of all, for gossipr}'^ with members of their own 
families. Without pushing proof further, you may quietly assume, 
when 3^011 hear au3'One, except a factory slave, make such an 
assertion, that the root of the matter is not in her and never was. 
Your true book-lover will read, and exercise such ingenuity and 
steadfastness to accomplish this end as her neighbors to the right 
and left put forth to get hold of the latest fashions or a choice scrap 
of scandal. 

Let us be honest with ourselves—call ignorance and indifference 
to that ignorance, blindness to duty, carelessness as to responsibilit3", 
fatuous content with mediocrity and glaze and veneer, hy their 
right names. It is your business and mine, m3^ resigned sister, 
to make the “ Literary Life of the household,”—dut3’’, which cannot 
be demitted unless the priestess at the altar be deaf, dumb, blind 
and idiotic. The selection of good, helpful, ennobling books, the 
systematic study of these, the reading with and for your children, 
should be taken into the account of daily tasks and privileges as 
conscientiously as the family mending, the making of beds, the 
setting of tables and the polishing of candlesticks. 



'^rH^'\/onAN - WHO-Will- j^EAc?- 
























































































































































































































LITERARY LIFE OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 


201 


“ Viti sine Uteris mors est ! ” declaimed my twelve-year-old boy, 
bursting into the library one evening, where I sat in the twilight 
somberly pondering the problem I have discussed. And, as I looked 
up inquiringly,—“ The motto of our school, mamma ! Which is, 
being interpreted,”—grandiloquently—“ Life, without letters, is 
Death.” 

Call the interruption coincidence if you like. Or, is the legend 
an extreme statement, exaggerated into irrelevancy ? 





Women as Mothers. 


LEADER among what is known in New England as the 
Remonstrants—that is, the party opposed to woman siif- 
J ^ frage—wrote to several hundred women all over the 
country, asking for an expression of their views on the 
subject. “ So many are inanely non-committal, so many illogical, 
and violent,” she says, “ that my assistant in the correspondence 
proposes, when the replies are all in, to compile the epistles in a 
volume entitled—‘ Reasons why Women should Not Vote.’ ” 

Our hoys are, in another score of years, to make the laws, heal 
the soul and bodies, formulate the science, and control the com¬ 
merce of their generation. Fathers who, recognizing this great 
truth, do not prepare their sons to do their part toward accomplish¬ 
ing this work, are despised, and justly, by the community in which 
they live. Our girls are, in another score of years, to make the 
homes which are to model and control men who are to make laws 
heal souls and bodies, formulate science, and control the commerce 
of their generation. In these homes, are to be born and brought up 
by the mothers, our grandsons, who are to make laws, etc., in their 
generation. The house-that-Jack-built row of bricks runs on in 
immutable lines into the vista of the eternities. 


202 




WOMEN AS MOTHERS. 


203 


Yet—and herein is mystery—the mother who does not, with 
definite purpose, in the fear of God and love of her kind, prepare 
her daughter to fulfill this mission, loses neither caste nor favor 
among her congeners. Our protestant sympathies are shed waste- 
fully upon the novice, who, by the rules of certain conventional 
orders, must mingle in the gayest society to which she has access, 
that she may test the strength of her resolution temptation. 
The lives of our girls, as we help make them, are, for the interim 
that separates the school-room from the bridal altar, a novitiate, 
rather than an apprenticeship for the noblest work ever intrusted to 
human hands. The black veil typifies the marriage ring. In her 
farewell to the. merry-go-round of parties, balls, and frolics generally, 
our daughter blows the foam from the cup, sparkles, and subsides 
into stateliness ; the wine of existence and herself “ settle down.” 

Said one affectionate, sensible mother, when reminded that 
practical knowledge of the duties of mistress, wife, and mother 
would make the prospective matron’s task easier in days to come, 
—“ But what time have girls who go into society, for regular home 
occupation ? What with a lunch, and high tea, and an evening 
party, six days out of the seven, and a german every week, to say 
nothing of theater, opera and dinners, they are driven to the full 
measure of their strength. I see the force of what you say, but 
where is the leisure to come from ? ” 

I do not essay to answer this query. The life of the popular 
“ society girl ” is as wearing to the nervous forces as that of the 
“ variety ” actress, and she “ goes off” under the strain quite as fast 
as does the painted dancer and vocalist. The youth who is her 
favorite partner abates not a whit of his daily labor on the morrow, 
most of which she spends in bed, that she may freshen up by 
evening. What is her business is his recreation. By the time they 
join hands for the minuet of working-day living, he has come to 


204 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


consider this style of re-creating liis spirits “ a bore, you know,” 
and is glad to try domesticity as a change. In entering upon their 
home-life, she begins to work, he to rest. It ought not, he thinks, 
to tax the strength of a tolerably healthy woman to keep a well- 
appointed flat or cottage in order, and direct the operations of one 
or two servants. 

When the sweet voice takes a wiry ring, and the plait between 
the brows becomes a crease, when her vivacious chit-chat degenerates 
into a monologue upon housewifely woes—her spouse is naturally 
perplexed, perhaps impatient, peradventure, even slightly contemp¬ 
tuous. He had thought that she had more “ grit,” and some 
perception of the serious side of life. How in the name of precedent 
and the commonest kind of common sense, can the poor young wife 
be otherwise than disheartened and chronically fatigued ? A new 
set of mental and physical muscles are brought suddenly into 
active use. The breaking into harness that seemed in anticipation 
a novel and enticing sport, turns out to be compulsory exercise.. 
How she will support the experience depends upon her moral and 
bodily staying-power. 

Before the tender feet of the over-wrought creature are used to the 
shards and pit-falls of her road, a child is laid in her arms. As a 
girl, she thought and talked freely of probable wifehood, even 
pictured to herself the pretty pomp of controlling and adorning a 
home of her own. Thoughts of, and preparations for the one great 
untransferable Mission of woman, as hers, would have been unmaid- 
enly. In her mental schedule, be it long or brief, there is no note 
of the necessity or even expediency, of fitting herself in health, in 
knowledge, in discipline of spirit and temper, for the maternal office. 
She knows that children are sent to most married people, and 
that, but for the supply of new material, the human race would 
become extinct. She has a nebulous idea, too, that the training of 
































































































































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WOMEN AS MOTHERS. 


207 


infants is generally tlie mother’s concern. But there will be time 
enough to think of such things should Providence add this burden 
to the rest. 

So the months wheel by, and the young immortal who, through 
her agency, may become the best or the worst man of his age, 
lies in her awkward embrace, his feeble life hanging upon her ignor¬ 
ance. Why the Allwise Creator should send babies to those who 
know as much about taking care of them as a peasant Laplander of 
the precession of the equinoxes, is a problem reserved for the clari¬ 
fied intellects of the hereafter.. Now, it is a dissected theorem with 
half the pieces missing. 

“ I am the mother of an immortal being! God be merciful to 
me a sinner! ” is the entry in Margaret Fuller Ossoli’s diary when 
her boy was born. It was the cry of the human and the maternal 
in the soul of her who frankly confessed, “ I now know all the 
people worth knowing in America, and I find no intellect compara¬ 
ble with my own.” 

Our smaller-minded (and humbler) mother may take up the 
lament, according to her individual interpretation of its meaning. 
Without trenching upon debatable ground, may one whose religion 
teaches her to fill her own sphere to the round outermost verge 
before aspiring to a higher, point the dismayed learner to the fact 
hinted at a while ago ? We will grant, for courtesy’s sake, that it 
is in admiration of the masculine half of the man created in our 
Maker’s image that we seek to stand firmly upon his level, and, our 
rights unchallenged, to share equally in his honors and prizes. 
God be merciful to us sinners if in the contest we trample in the 
mire our Koh-i-noor, our pearl of great price, which man could not 
purchase by the sale of all he possesses,—our unique of Mother¬ 
hood ! 



Our Baby. 

O NE hears every day an immense deal of wishy-washiness 
talked by callow pessimists, and their dyspeptic elders, of 
the nnsatisfactoriness of life, the worse than uselessness 
of living. The first-named consider it knowing to be 
blase^ the latter confound ennui and experience. The world is a 
dear and bonny home, thanks to the dear Lord who made it so very 
good that His creatures in all ages have not been able to spoil it. 
Of Queen-mother, Nature, it may be said that as custom can not 
stale her infinite variety, neither can ingratitude chill her infinite 
kindness. Each spring-time is a resurrection ; each fruit-season 
brings the thrill of a pleasant surprise ; each Christmas-tide stirs 
our souls as if the Birthday of birthdays—the red heart of all 
a-throb with living fire set in the mid-breast of white winter—were 
then celebrated for the first time. Still, as when the morning-stars 
chanted the completion of the young earth, all things leave the 
Father’s hand fair and new. 

Our Baby is, to whatsoever home he may come, the freshest, 
most exhaustlessly interesting creation the angels ever lowered to 
our level. 

“ Come away ! ” said a girl pulling at her friend’s sleeve. “ Yon 
don’t care to listen to that pair of new mothers. They are only 
comparing notes and asking advice about their lamblings. I heard 

208 






OUR BABY. 


209 


one say just now—‘ I had no idea, until mine came, that a child 
was such a solemn responsibility.’ I always stop up my ears and 
run when they begin that sort of cant.” 

The other resisted. 

“ But I do care to hear this ! They are discussing the reform- 
dress for infants—and maybe you don’t know that we have a baby 
—my sister’s—at our house ? That makes all the difference in the 
world, you see.” 

With the tenancy of the cradle in “ our house,” other topics be¬ 
sides the reform-dress start suddenly into prominence. We never 
pass a child on the street without seeing it. The gutter-baby, pat- 
a-caking mud-pies on the curb-stone; the patrician baby, making 
round eyes at the little Arab through the carriage-window; the 
sickly baby, the healthy baby, pretty babies, and homely babies (if 
such exist), all pull at the check-strings of our hearts, each remind¬ 
ing us in some way of the tiny bundle of warm unconsciousness at 
home, lapped in love and fed on kisses. We loiter before windows 
which display baby clothes; emulate the sweet nonsense of Trad- 
dles and his “ dearest girl,” in selecting the toys we will buy for the 
boy when he begins to take notice. When caught lingering over 
school catalogues, we blush and laugh foolishly, and nobody except 
his father and mother is privy to the secrets of the savings-bank 
account begun in his own name when he was a day old. “All the 
difference in the world ? ” Yes ! and in the universe. 

Ours is always a wonderful baby. I confess to a sensation of 
chagrin when a young mother does not confess this directly, or 
indirectl3^ In some one particular, if not in all, he resembles no 
other child ever born, and surpasses the rest of the infant creation. 

Many years ago I witnessed an illustration of this vicarious 
vanity that shocked my girlish sense of fitness, but which I recall 


210 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


now with reverence. A neighbor’s child was, as the old wives 
insisted, “ marked ” by a snake on which the mother trod in the 
garden three months before it was born. The recollection of the 
deformed baby lent an awful fascination to “ Elsie Verner ” when I 
read it, twenty years afterward. She was an idiot girl, and had 
never walked, when she died at the age of six. Her skin was covered 
with scales, her head was flat, her eyes were narrow and black. 
Chancing to call at the house one day, I saw the poor little thing— 
usually screened from curious eyes—roll and wriggle across the 
floor to the mother’s feet, and, grasping her dress, laugh up in her 
face. Such a laugh ! The cleft tongue shot out with a hiss: the 
forehead receded entirely under the low forelocks ; the eyes gleamed 
—the whole effect was indescribably revolting. And the mother, a 
handsome woman in her prime, caught up the animate horror, 
covered her with kisses, and called her the “ dearest, loveliest rose¬ 
bud ever made! ” 

Our baby is always an “ incomparable sweet angel,” the rose of 
the world. The divine ingenuity that lays up against his coming 
such store of mother-love, does not over-estimate the prospective 
demand upon the supply. The care of baby takes more of 
mamma’s time, draws more heavily upon her nerve-power and 
physical strength than all her other duties combined. She is not 
her own property, by day or by night. There are as many anxious 
as happy thoughts of him. She is never quite easy when he is out 
of her sight, never quiet when he is present, unless he is asleep, 
and then holds her breath to listen for his. 

All this, and so much more to the same effect, is true that we 
declare without reservation, that the. active business of motherhood 
gives occupation to the hands, heart and head of any one woman. 
She can no more escape the weight, than can her husband from the 
burden of his craft or profession. The one is to her, what the other 













































































































































OUR BABY. 


213 


is to him. This is the kernel of our “ talk.” You, discouraged 
mother,—bewailing your pinioned hands and stagnating mind, 
fretting for the liberty of a toilless girlhood, for the gala-days that 
are no more, ready to cry out upon marriage as thraldom, and 
maternity as degradation—make the mistake of reversing the order 
of duties. Your husband, with a juster sense of values, resigns 
recreation, when prudence bids him bide by the stuff, or watch over 
investments; when he espies a chance to make money, postpones 
to a more convenient season the merry-making. His holidays are 
sandwiched between so many weeks that he almost forgets the 
flavor of one, before another comes. Should he complain, you 
would call him faint-hearted, and think him lazy. 

Yet yours is the nobler and far more important work. He 
makes money that perishes with his using (and other people’s). You 
make men and women, who will live forever, and, through all that 
forever, bear the imprint you stamp upon them. He seeks fame that 
will be his during his life-time. You are carving tablets for the 
never-ending years. The sublime patience of him who “ painted for 
posterity ” should be in you informed by a more sanguine faith, 
a wider and clearer outlook. None of us can, if only for our own 
sake, afford to slur over one of the duties that develop into more 
distinct and grander proportions with our children’s growth. In 
living their lives over with them, we keep ourselves young, yet gain 
a serener dignity of womanhood. Instead of growing intellectually 
rusty, we must avail ourselves of every means within our range of 
studying with and for them. The true-hearted and far-sighted 
mother keeps a place open in society to which she may return with 
her young daughter, when nursery cares are over. She sees mercy 
in sharp experiences by which she has learned to save her boys and 
girls from like blunders and like sorrows : that she may teach them 
wisdom, makes herself wise. 


214 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


“ It is not,” writes a motHer of the death of her first-born,—“ it is 
not for the day-old baby that I mourn, but the little one who was to 
keep me from feeling lonely when my husband is not with me ; who 
was to run down the street to meet papa when he comes home, the 
boy with whom I was to study his lessons over the winter fire, and 
whose summer sports I was to share; the college-lad, of whose 
honors I should be so gloriously proud, the man whose arm would 
be his old mother’s support. All these I have laid av^ay under the 
snow to-day, with the wee creature that never opened its eyes upon 
mine! ” 

Such are the stages in the for^vard life, the renewed youth of 
every mother who still holds to her breast a living child. Her off¬ 
spring are her reward and her monument. 

If this life be not worth living, none is. 




































































































































Vagaries of the American Kitchen. 


5 WENTY-SEVEN religions have I found in this country! ” 
writes a French tourist, “ and but one gravy I ” 

Had the satirist been familiar with the machinery of the 
average American kitchen, he might have added—“ And 
that is made in a frying-pan 1 ” 

Our housewife may be unversed in the matter of steamers, 
braising and fish-kettles. The chances are as ten to one that she 
never owned a gridiron, and would laugh a patent “ poacher ” to 
shrillest scorn. Were any, or all of these given to her, and their 
uses enlarged upon intelligently and enthusiastically, she would 
shake an unconvinced head and brandish her frying-pan in the 
face of anxious innovators and disgusted reformers. A convenient 
implement ? Hear her testimony and behold her practice ! 

For breakfast, her family is nourished, be it winter or summer, 
upon fried bacon, or salt pork, fried mush and fried potatoes. The 
bacon is cooked first; done to a slow crisp, and set aside to “ sizzle ” 
out any remaining flavor of individuality, while she gets the mush 
ready. The meat comes out, and the slices of stiffened dough go 
in, first to absorb, then to be (still slowly) cooked by the hot fat. 
All the fat is soaked up before the cold, boiled potatoes, cut into 
clammy “ chunks,” are put in. In fact, the last relay of mush is 





2i6 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


scorched to the bottom of the pan, and the bits of pork, clinging to 
the sides, are unsavory cinders. A great spoonful of lard sets all 
that to rights, and is just melted when the potatoes are immersed 
in it. Browning, under this process, is an impossibility, but a few 
outside pieces burn satisfactorily, and the rest smoke as the con¬ 
tents of the invaluable utensil are dished. Breakfast is ready. If 
the wheels of her domestic organization are not greased into fair 
running order, the fault is not hers, but that of the recalcitrant 
stomachs that will not assimilate “ good, wholesome food.” 

“ Onr men-folks set so much store by a warm, substantial break¬ 
fast, that I make a matter of duty of getting it up for them,” says 
the dear woman, complacently, wiping the frying-pan, and hanging 
it where it will be “ handy ” to fry steak-and-onions for dinner, and 
to frizzle smoked beef or cod-fish at supper-time. 

In proportion to “ our men-folks’ ” appreciation of hot, nourish¬ 
ing viands, is onr house-mother’s relish of a “ comfortable cup of 
tea.” The black earthen, or tin teapot stands on the stove for the 
greater part of the day, and rarely has a chance to be scalded and 
dried in the sunshine, as every vessel in which tea is brewed should 
be at least once in twenty-four hours. So soon as the water in the 
kettle nears the boiling point, after the morning fire is lighted, the 
handful of tea-leaves, thrown hap-hazard into the bottom of the pot, 
is hopelessly drowned, and the decoction set where it will gradually 
repair the lack of heat in the water. From steeping, it passes to 
simmering—from hissing to bubbling. The maker thereof must 
have her favorite drink, “just off the boil.” Nor would she recognize 
it without the harsh, herby taste acquired by the cooking, which 
refined connoisseurs would brand as “murdering.” The process of 
tea-making on the breakfast or supper-table ; the pretty array of urn, 
spirit-lamp and “ cozy ” she would condemn as “ fashionable foolery.” 
The enjoyment of the delicate aroma of the beverage, newly-made 


VAGARIES OF THE AMERICAN KITCHEN. 219 

by pouring boiling water upon just-moistened leaves, and never set 
over the fire, she would stigmatize decidedly as “ downright affecta¬ 
tion ; ” and associate it, by some subtle demonstration, with the 
hard times and increased price of living. She takes her tea as her 
mother did, and she likes her “ rye’n Indian bread with some sub¬ 
stance into it—not as light as vanity! ” 

Upon stew-pan and soup-kettle, she looks with almost as much 
disfavor. If the meat she bakes and fries be tough, she blames the 
butcher. Somebody must eat the coarser portions of ox or sheep, 
and people in moderate circumstances cannot fare sumptuously 
every day. In this spirit of equitable economy, she buys rump- 
steak, chuck-rib or osseous chops, and commits the roasted or 
grilled leather-and-fat to the digestive apparatus of husband and 
offspring with calm fatalism, truly edifying to behold. If the eaters 
develop a tendency to diseases of the alimentary organs, she can 
discourse as piously upon “ providential visitations,” as any erudite 
College Don over the slaughter done in dormitories and clubs by 
sewer gas. 

Soups she reckons as “ slops,” “ Unless,” as one of the guild 
said the other day, “ the meat and vegetables be left in. Then, 
a pot of rich soup is a dinner by itself.” 

“ Rich ” being the synonym of greasy. 

Tell her, if you do not mind squandering time and breath, that 
the chops which, served by her, are a ghastly waste of bone, gristle, 
skin, burned tallow, and desiccated lean meat—would feed her brood 
almost luxuriously were she to trim them neatly, stew very slowly, 
add to the cooled and skimmed gravy (keeping the meat hot over 
boiling water) a dash of piquant catsup or tomato sauce, and, having 
thickened it with browned flour and boiled it for one minute, return 
the same with the meat to the fire for another minute before serving 
—brown, tender and savory. You will receive for your benevolent 


220 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


officiousness, a stony stare of indifference, or be told flatly tbat life 
is too short to be spent in such “ notional doctoring up of the 
wholesome victuals the Lord has made.” In illustration of which 
aphorism, she will go on with the interrupted conglomeration of 
pork-fat, cold water and second-rate flour, known to her and 
thousands like unto her as “ family pastry.” 

When lard, flour and water have been kneaded into a tenacious 
composite, it will be spread upon plates and stratified variously 
with insipid custard, or half-sweetened fruit, or a plutonic mixture 
of molasses, chopped peel, pulp and acid, popular under the name 
of “ lemon-tart.” 

Profoundly ignorant, or reckless of the truth that grease is not 
gravy, and is, in itself an abomination to well-ordered stomachs, 
she serves with roast beef, mutton, veal, poultry, a bowl of brown 
precipitate, overlaid by several inches of clear oil, and looks con¬ 
temptuously at the guest who prefers politely to take his meat, as 
Southern children say of butterless and sugarless bread—“ dry, so.” 
When the infrequent soup makes its appearauce upon her board, 
oleaginous islets and continents swim languidly upon the surface, 
coat the spoons and tongues of those who partake of the unskimmed, 
unstrained mess of pottage. The colander—the most efficient check 
upon that Eord of Misrule, the fryiug-pau—inasmuch, as by its use, 
some of the reek and drip may be got rid of before the food is 
served—is seldom in our house-wife’s hands, except when squash 
or pumpkin-pies are to be made. Least of all, does she think of 
employing it in serving vegetables. Beans, peas, onions, succotash, 
beets, etc., go to table half-submerged in the liquor in which 
they were boiled; a little salt, butter and pepper, stirred into the 
floating mass, constitute the “ dressing.” 

She leaves esculents undrained, and turns washed cups, saucers, 
dishes, even glass and silver, upside-down upon tray or kitchen 


VAGARIES OF THE AMERICAN KITCHEN. 


221 


table, “ to dreen ” before wiping them. The process saves time and 
towels. Her mother “ washed up ” dishes, in this manner, and her 
mother’s daughter sets her shrewd face, like the Jamestown Tower, 
or Plymouth Rock, against new-fangleism in her dominions. 

Even in the matter of toasting bread, she is incorruptible in her 
devotion to traditional usages. Explain—when she inveighs against 
the “ wicked waste ” of paring your slices of stale bread—that 
they will not curl or warp, if the crust be first removed, and that 
nobody cares to eat toast-crusts. She always has—ergo, she always 
will—cut her fresh loaf into thin rounds, and char one side of each, 
while the other is palely smoked, when “ people take a notion 
to a bit of toast with their tea.” To her, “ it seems like sick-room 
feed.” 

For such provisions, we need hardly say, she has no respect; 
for their preparation, no vocation. I honestly believe that, in our 
land, where humanity and plenty walk hand-in-hand, and home-loves 
flourish as they do nowhere else on earth, thousands of young chil¬ 
dren and invalids perish yearly for the want of suitable nutriment. 
I could fill many chapters with the truthful details of ignorance and 
carelessness on the part of those who pride themselves upon their 
skill as nurses, who enjoy the reputation of being excellent mothers 
and housekeepers. 

Do you ask, thoughtful reader, where is the remedy for these 
obstinate vagaries—these fallacies to which our countrywomen, as a 
body, give the prominence of principles ! 

I was more hopeful, ten years ago, than I am now, of possible 
reformation among the reigning autocrats of the culinary depart¬ 
ment. “ Mother ” is joined to her sooty idol, the Frying-Pan ; 
to her family pie crust; to boiled tea; to undrained beets, and 
drained china. She will go on expressing and dispensing oils, until 
she sleeps with her mothers, who “ always did just so.” 


222 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


The one ray of light penetrating the smoky interior of the 
National Cnisine, comes from the fact that onr young girls—the 
wives and housekeepers of the next generation—are beginning to 
look upon cookery as a practical science, and dietetics as a serious 
study ; however refined and accomplished they may be, are opening 
their eyes to the truth that proficiency in housewifery is a thing 
to be desired, to make one wise and her kind healthy and 
comfortable. 

To their clear common sense, their affectionate zeal and busy 
hands, we commit the kitchen of the future. 






Breakfast as it Should Be. 


B RKAKFAST may be considered the one fixed fact among 
our movable feasts, the very names of which are varied by 
the fluctuation of the social barometer. Jones, as a 
thriving mechanic or smart clerk, living in a nice three- 
story brick on a side street, has a good dinner of two courses at one 
o’clock, and “ something hearty ” with his seven o’clock tea. Mel- 
chius Jones, Hsq., manufacturer or merchant prince and millionaire, 
gets his luncheon at a city restaurant, and subsides into the bosom 
of his family around a gas-lighted dinner-table, so crowded with 
glass, silver and flowers, that meats and vegetables must be served 
from the side-board. 

Fashion may, and does push the morning meal further on into 
the day, in households where leisure and luxury have succeeded 
to the hurry and toil of earlier years. But it is breakfast still, a 
family repast, and a bountiful one, that refuses to be materially 
modified by the pressure of imported ideas and habits which are 

rapidly denationalizing our homes. 

The free-and-easiness of the English breakfast hour—the huge 
cold rounds and joints and game-pies on the side-table for the strong, 
the toast-and-tea for the weak; the sitting-down and the rising-up 
at the convenience of the several members of the company—impress 
the Yankee housewife as unseemly and shiftless. She will not 





224 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


have “ things ” standing about all hours of the day, nor would 
American (imported) servants endure the imposition upon time and 
service. 

But it seems strange at the first blush, that the continental 
breakfast, simple, inexpensive and convenient, has not been eagerly 
adopted by us. A hundred jaded women,—sipping chocolate in 
Parisian and Italian hotels, and seeing that the family appetites are 
satisfied by crisp rolls, fresh eggs and butter, with an occasional 
treat of honey or marmalade for the children—brighten into anima¬ 
tion with the resolve to introduce the like order in our transatlantic 
homes. Ninety-nine of the hundred make the experiment upon 
their return. We have never known an exception to the general 
failure of the pretty plan. In most instances, the rebellion begins in 
the lower house. Our “ help ” cannot work, they assert, without meat 
twice a day, at least. Across the sea, they labored doubly as hard, 
and lived upon potatoes, polenta^ or black bread and sour beer. In 
our climate they must be fed upon the fat of a more goodly land 
than they had dreamed of before touching our shores, or muscles 
grew flaccid, bones soften, and stomachs collapse. 

We may temper the heat of our indignant contempt for such 
flagitious affectation by'asking ourselves why the crusty roll, single 
cup of coffee or chocolate, and boiled egg, no longer upbear our 
strength and spirits until the next meal is served. Why, by degrees, 
the bit of toasted bacon, dear to the English heart, the Scot’s oat¬ 
meal, the Cuban’s orange, find their way to the otherwise meagerly- 
furnished board ? Why, as the days shorten and the cold strength¬ 
ens, the children clamor for buckwheats and maple syrup, and papa 
endorses the draught upon caterer and cook. 

Paierfaviilias wastes no time in dissertation upon climatic in¬ 
fluence, or the tyranny of custom. 


BREAKFAST AS IT SHOULD BE. 


225 


“ I am a practical man,” he says, “ who does half a day’s work 
before the French banker or advocate goes to his office. Too busy 
to suspend operations at half-past eleven or twelve o’clock, for the 
dejeutier a la fourchette that supplements his eight o’clock coffee 
and roll. I don’t argue nor expatiate, I only know that in order to 
do an American citizen’s work, I must be well fed, and that, without 
a substantial breakfast, I am used-up by noon—an exhausted 
receiver—sir! ” 

The question resolves itself in his mind into a clear case of 
supply and demand. The climate may have something to do with 
it. Habit probably has more. Be this as it may, the engine plays 
all the time under a full head of steam, and boiler and fire must be 
fed generously. We do well to imitate the practical in accepting 
the American breakfast as it is, because it is. Our suggested 
refonns will not clear the table of a single dish, without offering a 
substitute. Because it is a substantial meal, it should be tempting, . 
nourishing and eaten deliberately. As a family gathering, the 
party should be cheerful and at ease. As the initial repast,—the 
breakfast of the new day should beget comfort and harmony, put 
mind and body in tune for labor which ought to be worship. 
Whereas, the plain truth is that the disregard of some, or all of 
these conditions is a notorious fact in most dwellings, even among 
our well-to-do and wealthy classes, and their observance in our 
homes remarkable by reason of the rarity of the spectacle. 

Goblin Care enters the chamber of the dual head of the house¬ 
hold, at the turn of the morning tide, when the waves of physical 
life pulse most feebly. He takes the house-mother by the hand as 
she starts from her latest and most delicious doze to hurry the tardy 
cook. He mounts and fastens upon the shoulders of the practical 
man, who must be at warehouse, office or factory at eight-or maybe 


226 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


nine o’clock. Whatever the hour, it must be “ sharp ” upon him 
before he brushes his teeth, and plunges his face into cold water. 

He is in the middle of next week, by the time he kicks aside 
slippers for boots, and wonders audibly,—“ if they are going to keep, 
a fellow waiting for his breakfast.” The morning paper lies at his 
plate. Electric shocks of stock-market news contract windpipe, and 
agitate diaphragm as he bolts breakfast, and gulps down coffee. 
Political excitement congests the stomach-coats and transmutes 
buttered buckwheats into hot lead. Engrossed in the world’s news, 
brought to his door wdth the rising of the sun, he throws liquids 
and solids into the palpitating interior of the machine, with little 
more thought of order and assimilation than the stoker exercises 
who “ chunks ” the black lumps into the fire-chamber, and then 
bangs the door. 

Bridget, marketing, shopping and dress-making, sit heavily 
upon the sonl of wife and mother. The children hate early break¬ 
fasts, and are served with the de-appetizing sauce of acerb rebuke 
for indolence as they straggle in. The dispersion to the different 
spheres of action is a disorderly ront, and the poor woman left to 
hold the fort, cogitates, by turns, upon the cause of the dyspeptic 
qualms that add physical to mental disquiet, and the “ crossness of 
everybody in the morning.” 

“ It is such a comfort to get breakfast over! ” is her one solace. 

Our busy American citizen may demand, as a vital need, his 
substantial daily meal. He does not enjoy it. The running of a 
vast majority of human animals upon the daily course is like that 
of spavined horses. 

We are stiff and sore when first led from the stall, but warm to 
our work and into suppleness with judicious management. Who 
of ns has not experienced the desire to turn the day hind-part-before, 
setting bodily and mental depression, with the yawning, and peev- 


OUR AMERICAN CITIZEN AT BREAKFAST. 

















































































































BREAKFAST AS IT SHOULD BE. 


229 


isliness, and “ gone-ness ” that expresses this, at the latter end 
when bed and slumber would be the natural and speedy cure ? 
Who practices the philosophy of gentle lubrication and moderate 
movement, leading up to steady labor which we might learn from 
a doltish groom ? 

The breakfast table should be a study—hygienic and aesthetic 
—with those who would profit thereby. Conspicuous among its 
appointments, set the fruit basket. For those whose stomachic 
idiosyncracies do not forbid this order of course, let oranges, grapes, 
bananas in winter, and summer fruits in their season, precede the 
weightier matters of a meal. 

There is amelioration of harsh business, if not refinement of 
tone, in the sight and manipulation of the gracious gifts direct from 
the Maker’s hands. The juices are a grateful assnasive, and a 
stimulus to digestion. Oatmeal porridge, soaked over night and 
steamed in the morning to a smooth jelly—mollient, not drastic— 
then drenched with cream, may succeed the fruit, or be served as a 
dessert. The Briton’s toasted bacon is a potent persuasive to reluc¬ 
tant appetite. Fried potatoes, thin as a shaving, hot, and so dry as 
not to soil the enveloping napkin, come delicately and seductively 
into line. Let the bread be sweet and light, the butter above sus¬ 
picion, coffee and tea fresh and fragrant. By the time the skirmish¬ 
ing is over—and the process should not be rapid—the business of 
the hour is fairly begun. Now should the practical man be built 
up with boiled eggs, or omelette, or beefsteak, or mutton-chops 
(always broiled !)^ or chickens, stewed or broiled, or savory ragouts,, 
or sausage—the list is long and attractive to eye and imagination. 
The second cup of hot coffee is here in order. And—not until hun¬ 
ger has been appeased by deliberate and careful mastication of these 
substantial edibles—should the morning paper be unfolded. Wives 
and children have reason for their bitter aversion to the triple 


230 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


sheet, behind the crackling abomination of whose folds the lord of 
the home devours his provender. If the ill-used stomach could 
speak, its verdict would accord with their condemnation. 

She who dignifies the common uses and needs of life into 
humanizing, Chi'istianizmg influence upon those whose daily min¬ 
ister she is, serves her generation well, although her apparent 
sphere be no broader than her Breakfast Table. 







The Tea-Table. 


Y orkshire people, in those days, took their tea around 
the table, sitting well to it, with their knees duly intro¬ 
duced under the mahogany. It was essential to have a 
multitude of plates of bread and butter, varied in sorts, and 
plentiful in quantity. It was thought proper, too, that on the cen¬ 
ter plate should stand a glass dish of marmalade. Among the 
viands was expected to be found a small assortment of cheese-cakes 
and tarts. If there was, also, a plate of thin slices of pink ham, 
garnished with green parsley—so much the better.” 

Thus writes Charlotte Bronte, of the Yorkshire teas of eighty 
years ago. Word for word, we may apply the description to the 
third and latest meal in the majority of the houses of what may be 
called our “ solid middle-class Americans,”—people who are doing 
well, and like to live well. Only, we must substitute for the 
“ multitude of plates of bread and butter,” the array of saucerlings 
gathered about the central trenchers from which our citizen and his 
family take their food. If the board is spread for “ company,” the 
number of these increases in proportion to the importance borrowed 
by the occasion from the quality of the guest and the desire of the 
hosts to set out a handsome “ entertainment.” Apple-sauce in one, 




232 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


a spoonful of cold pudding or custard in a second, lettuce, or other 
succulent salad in a third, flank the good-liver’s plate at his ordinary 
supper. 

When there are invited participants, one often sees marmalade, 
chicken or lobster salad, a trifle of blancmange, brandied peaches, 
and, in conclusion, ice-cream, in as many china or glass receptacles 
—not one being removed to make room for the others. The amused 
perplexity of him who is not to this fashion born, as he beholds 
himself gradually environed by these outposts in the contest waged 
against hunger, is only exceeded by the inflexible resolve of the 
directors of the campaign that the last and the least of these shall 
be honored. In their season, oysters, stewed, fried and scalloped— 
chicken, broiled, roasted or fricasseed; a choice cut of salmon ; a 
big roe shad,—is the bulwark at the lower end of the board. Pota¬ 
toes, tomatoes, cucumbers and green peas skirmish up one line of 
eaters, and down another, while coffee-urn and tea-pot are fixed 
towers of strength and observation at head-quarters. 

Such, and often more abundant and incongruous, is the evening 
banquet to which neighbors and such strangers as the master and 
mistress would convert into acquaintances, are bidden in the 
formula:—“ Come around on Thursday evening, and take a social 
cup of tea with us. Very informally, you know. Our tea-hour is 
half-past six.” South of Philadelphia, they ask you for half-past 
seven, and call it “ supper.” 

“ In point of fact,” as Cousin Feenix would say, it is neither 
one nor the other. As an amplification—a mammoth and illustrated 
edition of our Yorkshire and American family-tea—it is an over¬ 
grown caricature, swollen out of all likeness to simple cheer and 
cosy comfort. It is too early and not sufficiently elegant to rank 
with the formal “ party supper.” It is much too elaborate to pass 
for the English fourth meal of the day (sometimes the fifth, if five 


THE TEA-TABEE. 


233 


o’clock tea be reckoned in). This fifth repast consists, among the 
middle and lower classes, of cold meat, pickles, beer and cheese. 
The higher stay stomach and neiwe at ten, eleven, twelve o’clock, 
with salads, cold game, wines, and perhaps one spicy enti'ee^ such as 
deviled lobster, or sweetbreads stewed in champagne. Our national 
“ big tea”—no other title suits it so well—costs as much in money 
and labor as would a pretty little dinner, with five or six courses, 
duly arranged and served. The machinery, ill-adapted for the 
weight it has to carry, works awkwardly. Except to those whose 
primary object, always and everywhere, whenever their knees are 
“ duly introduced under the mahogany,” is the gratification of 
appetite, the entertainment is a baleful weariness, the happiest 
moment of which is that when the back is turned upon the dis¬ 
orderly table where meats and sweets are jumbled without plan or 
taste. 

It is time that the slowest learner among those who serve and 
those who partake, should understand that the success of feasts, in 
our day, from the humblest to the highest, depends upon a judicious 
display of a few really excellent dishes; that the elegance of a 
bill-of-fare consists no more in the abundance of the things therein 
set forth. 

The family tea—as such—is actually a more choice affair to 
which to invite your friend, or your friend’s friend, than the mongrel 
“ spread ” we have described. Whatever may have been the haste 
and huddle of breakfast and the early dinner, there is surely no 
excuse, at the decline of day, for a table-cloth awry, and a clutter of 
table appointments. With the afternoon dresses of “ mother and 
the girls,” the faintest sense of what is fit and fair would, one 
might imagine, suggest a touch of festal order in drapery, china 
and glass, and something of the incense of welcome in what is 
made ready for the tired man of the house. 


234 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


On the contrary, who does not know by heart (or by stomach) 
the order complacently recognized by our model cottager as the 
regulation thing ? Imprimis, two plates of dry bread set precisely 
opposite to one another; item, a dish of chipped beef at the foot, 
facing the tea-tray at the top; the glass bowl of canned or preserved 
fruit, or, more probably, the incorrigible national apple-sauce, set in 
a right line with the butter-dish and cake-basket. In a sun-set 
saunter through a street of trim, modern houses, “ built with 
especial reference to the wants of small families,” one can guess 
with tolerable certainty, from the smokeless chimneys and bowed 
dining-room windows, as well as from the absence of all appetizing 
odors in the cooling outer air, within how many domiciles this prim 
display awaits the master’s home-coming. Let every housewife be 
a law unto herself in the ordering of the one social and leisurely 
meal of the trio she has to prepare daily. Abolish routine, and 
study surprises. Toss up an omelette on Monday, garnished with 
parsley; mollify the flinty slices of Tuesday’s stale bread into 
cream-toast, and reserve enough of Wednesday’s morning baking 
to make a loaf of French rolls for tea. Chops or a steak will jump 
with-the husbandly mood on Thursday, wLile Friday’s flsh-market 
will divide your mind by an embarrassment of riches that would 
furnish forth savorily the else scanty board. 

If love and ingenuity can vary, each evening, the expression of 
the common joy at the return of spouse and parent to hearth and 
home, affection should go to school to cunning when into Saturday 
night steals, as through crevices in the door the morrow will unbar, 
a breath of Sabbath rest and holy joys. 

“ We always use our best china on Sunday nights. It was my 
mother’s; blue, with white lilies-of-the-valley on it,” said the 
so-called prosaic mother of a large family. “ It’s foolish, I suppose; 




























































































































































THE TEA-TABLE. 


237 

but I have a fancy that we are all better, as well as happier, for our 
Sabbath-day tea.” 

Such foolishness is more than shrewdness or clever guess-work. 
It is spiritual insight. “ Our Sabbath-day tea ” is, in that house¬ 
hold, the swept and garnished nook that will expand into the 
orderliness and beauty of the whole life. The faith that reaches after 
the inner refinement, of which the best china—“ blue, with lilies-of- 
the valley,” is the visible type, may be but a little leaven, but of 
such potency that years nor generations shall suffice to trace out 
its workings. If he is accounted a benefactor in his age who makes 
two blades of grass grow where but one grew before, what praise 
shall be awarded to her whose kitchen-range is an altar of sacrifice 
to the love that strives continually to express tender and unceasing 
thought of the objects beloved, not in words only, but in deeds? 
We may smile at the linked images of supper-rolls and devotion 
akin to that which moved a Rachel Russel and a Margaret More ; 
of a surprise-salad set before the jaded husband at tea-time, and 
such sympathy with his too arduous labors and pecuniary trials as 
robs the wife’s cheek of bloom and her eyes of slumber. The truth 
remains, and is stubborn, that hungry Jeannot would rather 
Jeannette should meet him with an omelette, than with a rose-bud, 
as an evening welcome home. “ A cold tea ” is a convenience to 
housekeeper and to help. Paterfamilias agrees outwardly to the 
assurance that it is more wholesome for the children. For all that, 
he appreciates the pleasing iniquity of one covered dish and the hot 
biscuits that ought to-but-seldom-do give him dyspeptic night-mares, 
while he and the boys are secretly conscious of an increase of self- 
respect when, on the blessed Sunday evening, the best china is set 
out for them. 

As a people, we know too little, and care less, for family fetes. 
In our aversion to foreign sentimentalities, we deny utterance to 


238 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


feelings that honor our humanity ; make bare and lonely the lives 
for which we would lay down our own. And what other of our 
household meals can be so easily converted into a feast that shall 
wear the air of a voluntary tribute of affection, a benediction and 
caress, that shall efface the day’s worries, and give tone to the 
evening’s pleasures, as our “ Family Tea ? ” 







What our Children Eat. 

I N an interesting and valuable little work entitled “ Food for tbe 
Invalid,” the late Dr. J. Milner Fothergill, of London, said, 
“up to a recent period, oatmeal porridge and milk was the 
food of the nursery, par excellence^ and is still so where the 
parents possess good sense and the children good digestion—condi¬ 
tions which do not co-exist in ever^^ household.” 

This one sentence distinctly proclaims the nationality and 
dwelling-place of the distinguished author. 

“ Up to a recent period ” the food of the American nursery has 
been more “ promiscuous ” than that of the adult members of the 
household, by reason of such adjuncts to the regular daily fare as 
green apples, pop-corn balls, taffy, and candies illimitable. and 
indescribable. 

“ It is astonishing what children can eat with impunity,” is a 
complacent proverb which could hardly have gained circulation in 
any other country, if we except Lapland and West Africa. Casting 
aside imaginative drapings, let us omit from the statement just 
penned the clause, “ Up to a recent period,”—and confess what is 
the diet of children in ninety-nine hundredths of the homes of the 
comfortable classes of our enlightened land, abodes where poverty 

239 



240 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


never lays her scrawny hand on meat or sup. We will furthermore 
exclude such extreme cases of eccentric dietary as recur at once to 
the memory of each reader. 

I have seen a baby just one year and two weeks old, toddling on 
the orchard-grass and munching, with his double quartette of small 
white teeth, wind-fall pears of an inferior grade at best, which his 
mother asserts, “ agree with him as nothing else does.” 

Within a month, another, two months younger, was displayed 
by his proud papa as a prodigy who “ will have a bite of anything 
his mother eats, yet was never sick in his life.” 

A year or so ago, I was accosted in my walk on a farmhouse 
porch by a laughing father, and made to hearken to a story of a feat 
performed by his whey-faced three-year-old, who had been brought 
out of town to recruit from a severe attack of cholera infantum. 

“ The young dog attacked a basket of peaches, not over-ripe 
ones either, standing by the kitchen door, and ate ten before I left 
him! ” 

With a hinted doubt as to the propriety of terming these “ ex¬ 
treme cases,” as American families go—let us see what is the 
ordinary nourishment (?) of the American boy or girl from eight¬ 
een months old and upward. 

Bobby’s mamma orders for breakfast:—Oatmeal porridge : fish- 
balls ; stewed kidneys ; fried potatoes ; hot rolls ; buckwheat cakes 
and syrup ; oranges ; pears; tea and coffee. 

Bobby’s eyes roll eagerly over the board as the several dishes 
are brought on, and when, well-stuffed and happy, he alights from 
his tall chair at the end of the meal, his bib indicates that he has 
sp.mpled all, if he has not partaken to satiety of each one. And 
this not because he is a spoiled child who clamors for forbidden 
food. He is more than passably docile and obedient, but nobody 
thinks of refusing to give him kidneys, fried potatoes, buckwheats 


WHAT OUR CHILDREN EAT. 


241 


or coffee. His mother could not decide, if questioned, which of 
these is wholesome fare for infants, and which likely to prove 
deleterious to the young stomach. She has probably never given 
the matter a thought. 

At dinner there will be soup, fish, highly seasoned entrees^ 
pastry and black coffee. The supper table will be inviting with 
lobster salad, Welsh rarebit, jelly-roll, crullers and preser\"es. 
Bobby has his share of all, and goes to bed within one hour after 
bolting the last doughnut, as thoughtless of evil as is the fond 
parent, who might as kindly treat him to india-rubber aii gratin 
and bullets mi 7iaturel. 

He lives through it? Why—yes—generally. That is, he does not 
always and immediately die as the unmistakable result of the 
poison. His system takes care of it somehow, or gets rid of it 
somehow else. If, by the time he is thirty, the long-suffering 
stomach will pay no more debts of his contracting, who reckons up 
the account back to infancy and reveals why the trial-balance does 
not come out right ? He lived through scarlet fever, but it left him 
slightly deaf; the measles kept him a prisoner all of one winter, 
and his eyes have been weak ever since ; or the arm he broke on 
the base-ball ground is not quite as supple as the other. 

All these drawbacks are recorded in the family memory, and 
freely discussed. Not even the always-vigilant, never-forgetful 
mother thinks of associating childish excesses in eating with the 
lad’s sick headache, or the man’s defective digestion. 

While we cannot set aside the weighty bulk of evidence in sup¬ 
port of the influence of heredity upon the rising race, we may well, 
for a while, withhold our feet from spuming the bones of our fore¬ 
fathers, and look for a more modern solution of the ills of our 
corporeal frames. 


242 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


We may not love our British cousins, but we cannot deny to 
them the possession of brawn, phosphates and complexions. Their 
climate is execrable for eight months of the year, yet we take it for 
granted that they owe their superiority in the matter of constitution 
and nerv^e to atmospheric influences. Johnny Bull, Jr., breakfasts 
on porridge, and sups on bread and milk; dines on plain roast or 
boiled meat, potatoes and rice pudding; tastes plum cake at 
Christmas ; hardly knows the flavor of tea or coffee, and eats less 
candy in twenty years than our free-born Bobby disposes of in a 
twelvemonth. 

I once put a magazine article on “ The Royal Children ” in the 
hands of a shrewd, sallow lad of twelve. He looked up presently, 
with a sniff of infinite contempt. 

“ I don’t think it pays to be a prince if a fellow has got to dine 
every day on boiled mutton and babies’ pudding! ” 

We set better tables, so far as variety and abundance go, than 
any other people in the world, eat more, and digest it less comfort¬ 
ably than any sister civilized nation. This generation is beyond 
repair in these particulars. For abatement of American dyspepsia 
we must look to the mothers who are making the constitutions and 
history of the coming century. 

The article from which our text is drawn goes on to give the 
preference to hominy over oatmeal, and recommends American 
maize as “ being the richest in fat of all the cerealia, while it con¬ 
tains albuminoid matter in as high a proportion as does wheat. 
Preparations of maize,” it says, “ are peculiarly adapted to the 
nursery.” 

Our Bobby, accustomed to the varied menus I have sketched, 
would rebel hotly against a breakfast of hominy and milk. I once 
heard him condemn mush as “ chicken feed'.” He and his elder 
brcther and sisters are products of an artificial civilization, modeled 


WHAT OUR CHILDREN EAT. 


243 


on the American pattern. But it is possible to bring up Bobby’s 
baby-brother in ignorance of the savoriness of fried oysters and the 
piquancy of curries; to train his healthy desire for food in the 
direction of cereals, milk, boiled eggs, roast beef and boiled mutton, 
fresh ripe fruits, and what our scornful young democrat stigmatized 
as “ babies’ pudding.” Sustained by such fare, his digestion will 
grow stronger with years, his bones firm, his brain clear, and his 
nerves steady. He may not be mannish so soon as the boy next 
door, who complains that his coffee is not strong enough to brace 
him up, and is critical of ragouts and vol-au-vents^ but he will be 
more manly in a sturdy, wholesome way, with the sort of superiority 
the elm has over the ailantus. As a preliminary step, let the 
mother settle dietetic problems on the basis of what Baby may eat, 
not what he can devour, and apparently digest. 





S 








Introductory to Menus. 

! N the preparation of this series of bill-of-fare for family use I 
have sought to accomplish three things : 

First and chiefly—To he practical. 

Secondly—To express my meaning clearly and fully. 
Thirdly—To adapt memi and recipes to the service of people of 
moderate means. 

“ How do you make your delicious chicken salad ? ” asked one 
housekeeper of another, in the day when the dish was comparatively 
new. 

“Oh, I put in all the good things I can think of, and when it 
tastes just right, I stop,” was the satisfactory reply. 

Too many recipes, furnished by practical cooks, and printed for 
the use of the inexperienced, are constructed on this principle, and 
presuppose skill and judgment in the tyro. Almost as serious is 
the blunder of yielding to the temptation to write out showy lists 
of dishes as model meals, for the reader whose income is not above 
the average of that of the young merchant, or professional man. 
The true cook has, in her modest sphere, such pleasure in recipe- 
making as the musician or poet has in composition. All three fail 
of popularity when they discourage, instead of animating those they 
would instruct. The teacher’s province is not to display his own 
proficiency, but to develop the pupil’s powers. 


245 



246 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Tuition that falls short of this end is failure. 

The housewife who has a fixed and small allowance for market¬ 
ing, reads in the Home Corner of her family newspaper a breakfast 
menu that calls for a dish of meat, one of fish, and another of eggs ; 
for two kinds of hot bread ; for oatmeal porridge ; potatoes, fruit, 
coffee, and milled chocolate—and, with a sinking heart, she turns 
elsewhere for help in her attempt to vary the monotony of the first, 
and most trying meal of the day. Recipes and cook-books are not 
prepared for millionaires’ wives. Our prudent manager knows as 
well as does her would-be mentor, that few families, even among 
her wealthy neighbors, sit down daily to breakfast-tables spread as 
lavishly as the imaginary board above sketched. To discourage¬ 
ment is added contempt for the printed guide that would assert the 
contrar}^ to be the rule. 

A clever little woman who has a positive genius for cookery, 
threw up her hands tragically when I recommended as easily-made 
and cheap the oyster-bisque, directions for which will be found 
hereafter. 

“ I have a recipe for oyster-bisque, thank you ! It calls for 
sixteen ingredients. I eounted them. One of them is a quart of 
cream. I could not put that soup into my tureen for less than $1.50, 
not computing time and labor. I do not believe in fifty-cent dinners 
for six people, but we can’t afford five-dollar feasts for every day.” 

A novice brought to me once, an article clipped from a favorite 
weekly, in which minute instructions were given, dialogically, for 
the manufacture of meat dumplings. The tale—as a tale—hung 
well together. But the meat never went into the pastry. Why 
and how they were kept apart was a worse quandary than the 
King’s enigma as to how the apple got into his dumpling. 

With this prefatory, and I trust, not tedious laying of the cloth, 
we will proceed to business. 



Spring Bills of Fare. 

No. I. 

BREAKFAST. 

Coarse Hominy. 

Potato Rolls. Fried Pigs’ Feet, Breaded. 

Buttered Toast. Cold Bread. 

Fruit. 

Tea. Coffee. 


Coarse Hominy. 

This is otherwise known as cracked com. Wash it well and 
set it to soak over night. In the morning, drain and cook soft in 
boiling water, salted. Eat with sugar and cream, or cream only. 


Potato Rolls. 

One cup of potato, mashed or whipped, until smooth and light, 

with two tablespoonfuls of butter and two cups of lukewarm milk ; 

one tablespoonful of sugar; one scant cup of flour ; one-half 3^east 

cake—dissolved in warm water; one teaspoon ful of salt—an even 

one; mix these together, using but half the flour over night, and 

247 








248 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


leave them to rise. Early in the morning, work in the rest of the 
flour, knead thoroughly and let it rise for an hour and a half; mold 
into small rolls after a second brisk, hard kneading, set in a pan 
and leave in a warm place for half an hour before baking. Send 
hot to the table. 


Fried Pigs’ Feet, Breaded. 

Buy the pigs’ feet ready pickled from your butcher. If they 
have only been kept in brine, soak three hours and boil until 
tender. While hot, cover with boiling vinegar, in which you have 
put a tablespoonful of sugar and half a dozen whole black pepper¬ 
corns for each cupful of vinegar. Do this the day before you cook 
them for breakfast. Before frying, wipe each piece well, roll in 
beaten egg, then in cracker crumbs, and cook in plenty of cleared 
dripping or lard. Drain off the fat, and send to the table hot. 


Buttered Toast. 

Slice the bread nearly an inch thick, pare off the crust, and 
toast quickly over a clear fire, buttering each piece lightly as you 
take it from the toaster. Lay in a hot dish until all are done. As 
soon as the last slice comes from the fire, send all to the table. , 
Should a corner scorch, scrape before you butter it. The whole 
surface should be of a light yellow brown. 


LUNCHEON. 

Roe Omelette. 

' Steamed Brown Bread. Stewed Potatoes. 

Crackers and Cheese. 

Cake and Marmalade. 


Chocolate. 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


249 


Roe Omelette. 

Boil the roe of the shad you are to bake for dinner in hot water, 
with a little salt, for twenty minutes. Take it out and plunge into 
ice-cold water until cold and firm. Wipe, and break into a 
granulated mass, removing all the skin and strings. Mix this with 
a tablespoonful of butter, a tablespoonful of minced parsley, and 
season cautiously with salt and cayenne pepper. Have ready in a 
saucepan half a cupful of drawn butter. Beat the roe into it, and 
set in boiling water while you make an omelette of six eggs 
whipped light, whites and yolks together. Add a little salt, pour 
the eggs into a frying-pan where a tablespoonful of, butter is 
simmering; shake steadily until the omelette thickens, spread the 
roe mixture on half of it, double the other part over it, and turn 
out dexterously on a hot dish. Garnish with parsley. 


Ste.^med Brown Bread. 

One cup of rye meal (not flour) ; one cup of Indian meal; half 
a cup of Graham flour; one cup of milk; half a cup of molasses, 
(syrup will not do) ; one even teaspoonful of salt, and the same of 
soda. Sift flour, meal, salt and soda twice together to mix all well. 
Add the molasses to the milk, and work into the flour; knead for 
five minutes, turn into a greased mold and steam for three hours. 
Eat hot; but it is also good when cold. 


Stewed Potatop:s. 

Peel and cut in small square bits, dropping these in cold water as 
you go on. Cook tender in boiling, salted water. Turn off half of this 
when they are nearly done, and replace with a like quantity of hot 




250 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


milk in whicli has been dissolved a tablespoonful of butter cut up 
in flour. Simmer three or four minutes, pepper, salt, and stir in a 
teaspoonful of finely cut parsley. Boil up and dish. 

Chocolate. 

Six tablespoonfuls of chocolate wet to a paste with cold water. 
One quart of milk. Heat the milk in a farina kettle, stir in the 
chocolate paste and boil five minutes. Draw the kettle to the front 
of the range, and with a clean Dover egg-beater, whip the hot 
chocolate one minute before pouring into the pot in which it is to 
go to the table. Sweeten in the cups. 


DINNER. 

Puree Maigre. 

Baked Shad and Mashed Potatoes. 

Jbeefsteak with Sherry Sauce. Spinach au naturel. 

Suet and Sago Pudding, 

Neapolitan Sauce. 

Fruit. Coffee. 


Puree Maigre. 

One turnip ; one carrot; half an onion ; one tablespoonful of 
chopped cabbage ; half a can of tomatoes; half a cup of raw rice; 
stalk of celery, chopped ; three tablespoonfuls of butter cut up in 
two of prepared flour; two tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley; 
one quart of cold water ; pepper and salt to taste; one teaspoonful 
of sugar ; one cup of milk. 

Pare and grate turnip and carrot. Peel, and slice the onion, and 
parboil it with the cabbage for twenty minutes, throwing the 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


251 


water away. Soak the rice for two hours. Put all the vegetables 
except the tomatoes, with the rice and cold water, into the soup 
kettle ; cover and stew gently for an hour after the boil is reached, 
Add the tomatoes, simmer for half an hour, and run through a 
colander. Return to the fire, stir to a boil, add the floured butter, 
boil up a little faster and stir in the milk, scalding hot. Season 
and pour out. Be careful not todet the puree “ catch ” in cooking. 
(Put a tiny bit of soda in the milk.) 


Baked Shad. 

Wash and wipe a fine roe-shad, inside and out. Have ready a 
forcemeat of crumbs, a very little minced fat salt pork, a teaspoonful 
of butter, and one of minced parsley, seasoned with salt and pepper. 
Sew this up in the fish, lay the latter in a dripping pan, pour over it 
a cup of boiling water, and bake for one hour, at least, covered. 
Baste five times with butter-and-water, while baking. Transfer the 
shad to a hot-water dish ; make the gravy by stirring into the 
liquor left in the pan the juice of a lemon, a tablespoonful of 
browned flour wet up with cold water, a little salt and pepper. 
Boil up sharply, and send to the table in a gravy-boat. Garnish 
the shad with slices of lemon, on each of which is laid a little finely- 
bruised parsley. Send mashed potato around with it. 


BeeFvSteak with Sherry Sauce. 

Broil the steak in the usual way, lay it within the chafing dish, 
and cover it with the sauce, after which put on the top of the dish 
and let the steak stand five minutes before it is served. 




252 


HOUSE AND HOHE. 


Sauce. 

One glass of sherry; juice of half a lemon ; one tablespoonful of 
catsup; two tablespoonfuls of butter cut up in one teaspoonful of 
browned flour; half a teaspoonful of salt; a quarter-teaspoonful of 
pepper. Heat butter, catsup and lemon juice in a saucepan, add 
seasoning and wane, boil up quickly, and pour upon the steak. 


Spinach au 7 iattirel . 

Wash, pick off the leaves, rejecting the stems, and put over the 
fire in just enough boiling, salted water to cover it well. Cook fast 
for twenty minutes, turn into a hot colander, and let it drain into a 
vessel set on the range until all the water has run off. Stir 
into it quickly a tablespoonful of butter, a little salt and pepper, 
press firmly to get the shape of the colander on the under side of 
the mass, and invert upon a hot platter. Lay hard boiled eggs 
sliced about the base. Seiwe very hot. 


Suet and Sago Pudding. 

Four tablespoonfuls of sago, soaked for four hours in cold water 
enough to cover it; a generous half cup of powdered suet; one cup 
of fine dried crumbs; one cup of milk and a tiny bit of soda; one 
cup of sugar; four eggs ; one teaspoonful of corn-starch wet with 
milk; one even cup of Sultana raisins; one even teaspoonful of 
salt. 

When the sago has soaked for the required time, stir it into 
the heated milk, and bring almost to a boil before adding the 
required crumbs. Pour this on the beaten eggs and sugar, beat 
one minute, and add suet, sago, corn-starch and salt. Butter a 




SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


253 


straiglit-sid(-d mold, and strew with raisins carefully washed, dried 
and rolled in flour. Put in the batter carefully, a little at a time, 
not to wash the raisins to the top. Steam two hours. Dip in cold 
water and turn ont on a hot platter. 


Neapolitan Sauce. 

Two cups of powdered sugar; two tablespoonfuls of butter; two 
tablespoon fuls of red currant jelly; juice of half a lemon. 

Warm the butter slightly, and stir with the sugar to a cream. 
Divide into two parts, whip the lemon jnice into one, the jelly into 
the other. Wet a bowl and fill with alternate strata of white and 
pink sauce. Let it cool on the ice, and when hard pass a knife 
close to the sides of the bowl to loosen it. Send to table on a cold 
salver. 


No. 2. 

BREAKFAST. 

Wheat Germ Meal Porridge. Ragout of Liver. 

Egg Biscuit. Watercresses. 

Strawberries. Tea. Coffee. 


Wheat Germ Meal Porridge. 

This excellent breakfast cereal is particularly good when boiled 
in milk-and-water in equal quantities. Wet up a cupful of the 
“ germ meal ” in cold water to a thick mush, thin to gruel-like 
consistency with hot milk, and cook fifteen minutes in a farina 
kettle, after the water in the outer vessel reaches a boil. Salt to 
taste and eat with cream. 





254 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Ragout of Liver. 

Heat three or four spoonfuls of nice dripping in a frying-pan, add 
an onion, sliced, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and thrice as 
much minced breakfast-bacon; when all are hissing hot, lay in the 
liver cut in pieces as long and wide as your middle finger and fry 
brown, turning often ; take out the liver and keep warm in a 
covered hot water dish ; strain the gravy, rinse out the frying-pan, 
and return to the fire with the gravy, and an even tablespoonful of 
butter worked up well in two of browned flour. Stir until you 
have a smooth, browu roux; thin gradually with half a cupful of 
boiling water and the juice of half a lemon; add a teaspooiiful of 
minced pickle and a scant half teaspoonful of curry powder wet 
with cold water. Boil sharply, pour over the liver, put fresh boiling 
water in the pan under the dish, and let all stand closely covered 
for ten minutes before serving. 

Egg Biscuit. 

Two cups of warm milk ; two eggs ; two heaping tablespoonfuls 
of butter; half a cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in warm 
water; one quart of sifted flour; one teaspoonful of salt. 

Mix with the butter (melted, but not hot) the yeast, salt and 
three cups of flour together over night, and set in a covered bowl to 
rise. Early in the morning, add the beaten eggs and the rest of the 
flonr, and set for a second rising of an hour, or longer. When 
light, roll into a sheet almost an inch thick, cut iuto rouud cakes, 
and lay in a floured baking pan. At the end of half an hour, bake 
in a good oven. They are delicious, cold or hot. 

Watercresses. 

Wash well, pick off decayed leaves, and leave in ice-water nntil 
you are ready to eat them. They should then be shaken free of 




INTRODUCTORY TO MENUS. 


255 


wet, and piled lightly in a glass dish. Eat with salt. They are a 
piquant appetizer on sultry mornings, and very wholesome. 


Strawberries. 

Do not ruin the flavor by washing them, nor wither them and 
sap their sweetness by laying them in sugar. “ Cap ” with cool, 
light fingers, heap in a bowl, and sprinkle sugar on them after they 
are served in the saucers to waiting eaters expectant. The larger 
varieties of strawberries are best served with caps and stems on. 
The eater uses the latter as handles, and dips the berries into dry 
sugar, one by one. This is the prettiest way of eating breakfast 
strawberries. 


LUNCHEON. 


Clam Scallops. Deviled Tongue. 

Stewed Potatoes. 

Radishes. Crackers and Cheese. Tea and Cake. 


Clam Scallops. 

Chop 50 clams fine, and drain off through a colander all the 
liquor that will come away. Mix this in a bowl with a cupful of 
crushed crackers, half a cupful of milk, two beaten eggs, a table¬ 
spoonful of melted butter, half a teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of mace 
and the same of cayenne pepper. Beat into this the chopped elams, 
and fill with the mixture, elam shells, or the silver or stone-china 
shell-shaped dishes sold for this purpose. Bake to a light brown 
in a quick oven, and serve in the shells. Send around sliced 
lemon with them. 





256 


HOUSE AND HOME. 
Deviled Tongue. 


Slice a cold boiled tongue (fresh or smoked) and fry the slices 
quickly in nice dripping. If you have none, use butter. Chop a 
little onion fine and stir in before the tongue ^is fried. Take up the 
slices, arrange neatly, overlapping one another, in a hot-water dish. 
Strain the fat, return to the fire, stir in a teaspoonful of browned 
flour, half a teaspoonful of Worcestershire ‘sauce, a tablespoonful 
of vinegar, a quarter of a teaspoonful of mustard, a pinch of 
cayenne, and half a cupful of boiling water. Stir, and boil for 
one minute, and pour over the tongue. 


Radishes. 

Cut down the tops to within an inch of the roots. Wash, 
scrape off the fibers, and arrange tastefully on a dish with bits of 
ice between them. 


DINNER. 

Browned Potato Soup. 

Shad Baked with Wine Sauce. Earded Leg of Mutton. 

Green Peas. 

Stewed Macaroni. Strawberry Shortcake. 

Coffee. 

Brown Potato Soup. 

A dozen potatoes of fair size ; half an onion, sliced; two quarts 
of boiling water; two tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley ; two eggs, 
beaten light; half a cup of milk ; pepper, salt and cleared dripping 
for frying; a tablespoonful of butter; heat the dripping in a round- 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


257 


bottomed saucepan and fry the potatoes (peeled carefully so as to 
leave all the starch in them, then left in cold water for half an hour) 
and onion to a fine brown ; drain, drop them in the boiling water, 
and cook soft. Rub through the colander back into the kettle with 
the water in which they were boiled ; add the parsley, stir to a bub¬ 
bling boil, and season with pepper and salt. Heat the milk in 
another saucepan, melt the butter in it, add the eggs, stir one 
minute ; take the soup-ketlle from the fire, pour in the milk and 
eggs, and serve at once. If the potatoes do not thicken the water 
to a puree, roll the butter in a tablespoonful of flour and stir directly 
into the soup kettle instead of into the milk. 


Shad Baked with Wine Sauce. 

Clean, without splitting the fish, leaving on the head and tail. 
Lay in a dripping pan, pour a small cupful of boiling water over it, 
invert another dripping pan upon the lower, and bake one hour, 
basting six times with butter and water from the dripping pan. 
Transfer the fish to a hot platter; strain the gravy into a saucepan ; 
thicken with a heaping teaspoonful of browned flour ; season with 
salt and pepper, and add at the last a glass of brown sherry. Pour 
over the fish, and send to table cDvered. 


Larded Leg of AIutton. 

Cut half-inch wide strips of fat salt pork into lengths of four 
inches. With a narrow-bladed knife, make horizontal incisions in 
the meat to the bone, and, where this does not oppose the blade, 
clear through the joint. Roll these “lardoons” in a mixture of 
pepper, mace and vinegar, and insert in the holes made by the knife. 
If you have a larding needle, the task is easier. Set the meat in a 




258 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


dripping pan, dash a cupful of boiling water over it, and roast ten 
minutes for each pound, basting often. Ten minutes before taking 
it up, rub over with a mixture of a teaspoonful of butter and two 
tablespoonfuls of tart jelly. Strain the gravy, pour off the fat, 
and thicken what is left with browned flour, season with salt and 
peppt^r, boil up, and serve in a boat. 


Green Peas. 

Boil the pods fifteen minutes in slightly salted water; strain 
them out, drop in the peas, and cook tender, but not until they 
break. Drain dry; stir in salt, pepper, and a good lump of butter. 
Serve hot. 


Stewed Macaroni. 

Half a pound of “ pipe ” or “ straw ” macaroni; one cup of 
milk ; one teaspoonful of minced onion; one tablespoonful of but¬ 
ter ; half a cupful of cheese; pepper and salt to taste, and a bit of 
soda in the milk; break the macaroni into short pieces, and cook 
about twenty minutes in boiling water, salted. Meanwhile, heat 
the milk (dropping in a tiny pinch of soda), with the onion to the 
scalding point. Strain out the onion, drain the water from the 
macaroni, and put the milk into a sauce-pan. Stir in the butter, 
cheese, pepper and salt, finally, the macaroni. Cook three minutes, 
and turn into a deep dish. 


Strawberry Shortcake. 

One cup of powdered sugar ; one tablespoonful of butter ; three 
eggs ; one rounded cup of prepared flour; two tablespoonfuls of 
cream ; one generous quart of berries. 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


259 


Rub the butter and sugar to a cream ; whip in the beaten yolks, 
the cream, the whites, at last, the flour. Bake in three jelly cake 
tins and let the cakes get cold. Cut the berries into halves, and lay 
between them, sprinkling the strata with sugar. Sift sugar on the 
topmost layer. Slice and eat with cream. 


Brewis. 

Cold Bread. 

Fruit. 


Ko. 3. 

BREAKFAST. 

Commeal Dodgers. 
Deviled Beef in Batter. 

Browned Potatoes. 
Tea. Coffee. 


Brewis. 

One even cup of dried bread crumbs ; a pint of milk ; a quarter- 
teaspoonful of salt; two tablespoonfuls of butter. 

Save crusts and broken slices from day to day. When you go 
to bed, the night before you wish to make brewis, spread these bits 
in a dripping-pan and set in the cooling oven ‘to dry. Take them 
out in the morning, and crush with the rolling pin into rather 
coarse crumbs. Heat the milk, salt it, and when it boils, stir in 
the crumbs gradually until you have granulated mush. It should 
not get stiff". Now, put in the butter, stir and beat until hot, and 
serve in an open dish. Eat with sugar and cream. 

CoRNMEAL Dodgers. 

One quart of Indian meal; one quart of boiling milk; two 
tablespoonfuls of sugar ; half a .yeast cake, dissolved in warm water; 





26 o 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


one tablespoonful of lard and the same of butter; one even 
teaspoonful of salt. 

Scald the meal with tbe milk, stir in the sugar and shortening, 
and, when it is almost cold, beat in the yeast. Eet it rise all night. 
Beat up again one hour before breakfast, and set it for a second 
rising. Heat a dripping pan, grease well, and drop the stiff batter 
on it by the spoonful. Eet these be an inch or two apart, that they 
may not run into one another, and shut up in a quick oven to bake. 
They should be rough on top, and higher in the middle than at 
the sides. If the batter runs, add a very little flour. It must be 
stiff enough to stand in a heap. Eat very hot. 


Deviled Beef in Batter. 

Cut slices of underdone roast beef, and lay them for an hour in 
a mixture of half a cup of vinegar, half a teaspoonful, each, of salt 
and made mustard. Turn them over and over, several times, to 
absorb the dressing. Lay on a clean cloth, press with another to 
take up the liquid, and dip in a batter made in the proportion of one 
egg, half a cup of milk and two tablespoonfuls of prepared flour, with 
a little salt. Fry in dripping or lard, drain off the grease, and serve. 


Browned Potatoes. 

Boil in their skins, dry off and peel, set in a baking pan in the 
oven, and as they heat, butter three times at intervals of five 
minutes to glaze them. _ 

LUNCHEON. 

Scalloped Cod, Halibut or Salmon. 

Hashed Potatoes, Browned. 

Cold Bread. Butter. Pickles. 

Crackers and Cheese. Lady Cake. Tea. 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


261 


Scalloped Cod, Halibut or Salmon. 

Two pounds of cold boiled fish; two cups of milk ; one even 
cup of bread crumbs ; two tablespoonfuls of prepared flour; pepper 
and salt to taste; one tablespoonful of finely minced parsle\’’; 
two eggs. 

Pick the fish fine with a fork, heat the salted milk in a saucepan, 
rub the flour and butter together, stir into the milk, with pepper 
and parsley, and pour this on the beaten eggs. Strew the bottom 
of a baking dish with crumbs, put in a layer of sauce, then one of 
fish, another of sauce, and so on until the ingredients are used up. 
Cover with the rest of the crumbs and bake, covered, until it bubbles 
all over, then brown. 


Hashed Potatoes, Browned. 

Pare and cut potatoes into small dice; lay these in cold w^^ter 
for half an hour; stew tender, but not soft, in hot, salted water; turn 
this off, and cover the potatoes with a cup of hot milk, in which 
you have melted a tablespoonful of butter cut up in a teaspoonful of 
prepared flour. Turn all into a greased pudding, or pie dish, and 
brown lightly in a quick oven. 


Lady Cake. 

One and a half cups of powered sugar ; half cup of butter; two 
tablespoonfuls of milk ; whites of five eggs; two even cups of 
sifted prepared flour; One teaspoonful of bitter almond flavoring. 
Rub butter and sugar to a cream, add the milk and flavoring, then 
whites and flour alternately. Bake in jelly cake tins, and when 
they are cold, divide by layers of whipped cream, sifting sugar on 
top. 




262 


HOUSE AND HOME. 

DINNER. 


Catfish Soup. 
Canned Corn Pudding. 

Russian Cream. 
Fruit. 


Larded Liver. 

Stewed Tomatoes. 
Light Cake. 

Coffee. 


Catfish Soup. 

Three pounds of fish when they have been cleaned, skinned 
and beheaded; two cups of milk, heated, with a tiny bit of soda; 
two tablespoonfuls of prepared flour rubbed up with three of but¬ 
ter ; two beaten eggs ; two tablespoonfuls of minced parsley ; three 
cups of cold water; pepper and salt. 

Cover the fish with cold water and stew gently until the flesh 
slips easily from the bones; take from the fire, pick out and throw 
away the bones; chop the fish, strain the liquor in which it was 
boiled, and return all to the fire ; as it boils, stir in floured butter, 
seasoning and parsley ; boil two minutes; pour the scalding milk 
, from another vessel over the eggs, turn into the tureen, add the 
fish-soup and seiwe. Line the tureen with Boston crackers, split, 
soaked in boiling milk and well-buttered before pouring the soup 
upon them. Pass sliced lemon with it. 


Larded Liver. 

Wash a fresh calf’s liver, and soak it for an hour 'in cold water 
slightly salt. Wipe dry, and with a sharp knife, make perpendicu¬ 
lar incisions clear through the liver about an inch apart. Into 
these, thrust strips of fat salt pork long enough to project on both 
sides. Into the bottom of a pot or saucepan put a tablespoonful of 
minced onion, some chopped parsley or other sweet herbs, pepper. 




SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


263 


and a half-cupful of strained tomato juice. On this lay the liver, 
sprinkle as much onion on top as there is below, cover very tightly 
and set at one side of the range, where it will not reach the boiling 
point under an hour. Gradually increase the heat, but never let it 
be strong, for two hours more, when uncover the pot for the first 
time, to test with a fork if it be tender. It should be so tender that 
the fork enters as easily as into the crumby heart of a well-baked 
loaf. Take out the liver and keep hot, while you strain the gravy, 
thicken with a great spoonful of browned flour wet in cold water, 
and when it boils, add a glass of sherry. Pour over the liver. 
Carve the latter horizontally. It is as good cold as hot. 


Canned Corn Pudding. 

Mince the corn fine. Beat up three eggs, add two tablespoonfuls 
of sugar, the same of melted butter, an even teaspoonful of salt 
and a cupful of milk, lastly the com. Beat hard and bake covered 
in a greased pudding dish half an hour, then uncover to brown 
delicately. 

Stewed Tomatoes. 

Cook twenty minutes, before seasoning with a tablespoonful of 
butter, an even teaspoonful of sugar, less than half as much salt, a 
dash of pepper, and the merest suspicion of minced onion. Stew 
five minutes longer, add a teaspoonful of fine cmmbs, boil up and 
serve. 


Russian Cream. 

Half a package of Cooper’s gelatine, soaked four hours in water 
enough to cover it; one quart of milk; four eggs; two cups of 
sugar; a generous glass of sherry ; two teaspoonfuls of vanilla. 





264 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Scald the milk, take from the fire, and stir into it the yolks of 
the eggs beaten light with the sugar; also the gelatine. Stir all 
the time while mixing and return to the fire ; boil five minutes, 
still stirring, remove to the table, add the whites beaten to a froth, 
the flavoring and wine, strain through a sieve, and pour into molds 
w’et with cold water. Set in a cold place to form. It is well to 
make it the day before it is to be eaten, if yon have an early din¬ 
ner ; in the early morning, if you dine in the evening. It is deli¬ 
cious. Eat with cake. 


No. 4. 

BREAKFAST. 

Graham Porridge. Fried Tripe. Rice Muffins. 

Fried Potatoes. 

Tea. Coffee. 


Graham Porridge. 

One cup of Graham flour; one cup of boiling water—a large 
one ; one cup of hot milk ; salt to your liking. 

Wet the flour with cold water, and stir into the boiling, which 
should be in a farina kettle. Salt to taste, and cook half an hour, 
stirring up from the bottom now and then. Pour in the warm milk 
a little at a time, mixing well, and cook ten minutes after it is all 
in. Serve in an open dish, and eat with cream and sugar. 


Fried Tripe. 

Cut pickled tripe into squares as large as the palm of the 
hand ; wash in two waters, and cover with boiling water. Simmer 
gently for twenty minutes, turn off the water and put in, instead, 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


265 

an equal quantity of milk-and-water, cold. Bring to a boil, drain 
and wipe the tripe, rub each piece with butter and pepper, with 
salt, if needed; roll in flour or egg and crumbs, and fry in hot 
dripping. Drain off the fat and serve on a heated dish. Send 
lemon and Chili sauce around with the tripe. 


Rice Muffins. 

One Clip of cold boiled rice ; two cups of milk ; half a yeast cake, 
dissolved in half a cupful of warm water; one full tablespoonful of 
lard, melted; one tablespoonful of sugar; one teaspoonful of salt; 
three cups of flour; bit of soda, twice the size of a pea, dissolved in 
boiling water. 

Rub the lard and sugar into the rice, and into this, the milk, 
working out the lumps. Add the yeast, and flour enough for a 
good batter. Leave it to rise flve or six hours, stir in soda and 
salt, beating hard, half All mufiin tins, let them stand, covered, 
twenty minutes, and bake. They are richer if you add two eggs in 
the morning after the “ long rising.” Eat hot. 


Fried Potatoes. 

Pare potatoes, and slice thin, or cut into strips. Lay in cold 
water for an hour, spread on a dry towel, and, covering with 
another, gently pat them to dry off the moisture. Have ready hot 
dripping, and fry quickly to a light brown, not too many at once. 
Take up with a split spoon, and shake in a hot colander to free 
them from grease. Serve in a dish lined with a hot napkin. 
Mem.: Do not let them get warm after you take them out of the 
ice-water, before cooking them. 






266 


HOUSE AND HOME. 

LUNCHEON. 


Meringued Eggs. Welsh Rarebit. 

Bread and Butter. 

Prudence’s Gingerbread. Cocoa-theta. 

Meringued Eggs. 

Whip the whites of the eggs very stiff. Day great spoonfuls of 
the standing froth on a platter that will stand the oven heat. With 
the back of a tablespoon make a hollow in the middle of each heap, 
and put a raw yolk in it. Set in the oven until the meringue 
begins to color faintly, sprinkle with pepper and salt, lay a bit of 
butter on each egg, and serve in the platter in which they were 
baked. 


Welsh Rarebit. 

Six rounds of toasted bread; two beaten eggs; three large 
spoonfuls of dry grated cheese; one tablespoonful of butter; two 
tablespoonfuls of fine crumbs; one tablespoonful of cream ; one 
saltspoonful of mustard; a pinch of cayenne; a saltspoonful of 
salt. 

Work the butter, cheese, salt, pepper and cream gradually into 
a smooth paste, add the beaten eggs, the crumbs, and spread half an 
inch thick on rounds of buttered toast. If the paste is not laid on 
heavily, it will be absorbed in cooking. Set in a quick oven until 
they begin to brown. Eat at once. 

Prudence’s Gingerbread {without eggs ). 

One cup of molasses ; one cup of sugar; one cup of buttermilk, 
or loppered milk; half a cup of butter; one tablespoonfnl of 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


267 

ginger; one teaspoonful of cinnamon, or nutmeg, or mace ; about 
four cups of flour; one rounded teaspoonful of soda, sifted twice 
with the flour. 

Stir butter, sugar, molasses and spice together; when you have 
warmed them slightly, put in the milk, and then the flour. Beat 
until the batter is several shades lighter than when you began, and 
bake at once in small tins. 


Cocoa-theta. 

Heat four cups of milk in a farina kettle; stir in, when it is 
scalding hot, four tablespoonfuls of Wilbur’s cocoa-theta, and leave 
in the boiling water, covered, for five or six minutes before pouring 
it out. This is a most delicious preparation of the chocolate family. 
Many who cannot drink cocoa as usually put up, may take this 
without harm to head or stomach. It is a pleasing accompaniment 
to gingerbread. 


DINNER. 

Corn Soup {maigre). Boiled Cod with Egg Sauce. 

Baked Mutton Chops. 

Baked Spaghetti. Fried Bananas. Orange Pudding. 

Fruit. Coffee. 

Corn Soup {Maigre). 

One can of corn; two cups of milk; one quart of water; 
three eggs; three tablespoonfuls of butter, rolled in as much flour; 
one tablespoonful of chopped parsley; pepper and salt to taste. 

Chop the corn fine, and put into a quart of boiling water in a 
farina kettle. Cook for an hour, rub through a colander, season 





268 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


with pepper and salt, put back in the kettle, heat to a boil, and stir 
in the floured butter. Scald the milk in a separate vessel (dropping 
in a tiny bit of soda) pour it slowly on the beaten eggs, keeping the 
egg-beater going all the time, add to the soup; stir for one minute; 
put in the chopped parsley, and pour into the tureen. 


Boiled Cod. 

Select a Arm, thick piece of flsh; sew up in mosquito net and 
put over the fire in plenty of boiling, salted water. Cook one hour 
for a piece that weighs between four and five pounds. Undo the 
netting, lay the fish on a hot dish, rub all over with butter and 
lemon juice, and put three tablespoonfuls of the egg-sauce on it, the 
rest in a boat. 


Egg Sauce. 

Heat a cup of milk and water—equal quantities of both ; w'hen it 
boils, stir in a heaping tablespoonful of butter, rubbed together with 
as much flour. Cook three minutes, and turn it out upon two eggs 
beaten light. Return to the fire ; add a tablespoonful of chopped 
parsley and a hard boiled egg minced very fine. Boil one minute 
—no more—and pour out. 


Baked Mutton Chops. 

Trim them neatly, and let them lie in a mixture of melted 
butter, pepper, salt and lemon juice for half an hour, turning over 
and rubbing the chops faithfully with it. Arrange the meat in a 
dripping pan, and, as it heats, baste with hot water in which 
has been dissolved a little butter. Keep covered except when 
basting them. When the chops are nicely browned, remove to a 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


269 


hot-water dish to keep warm. Strain the gravy left in the pan, pnt 
over the fire with half a cnp of strained tomato juice, season, and, 
as it boils, stir in enough browned flour to thicken it. Cook two 
minutes, and pour upon the chops when yon have sprinkled them 
with tiny specks of currant jelly. Let them stand covered for 
three minutes before ser\dng. 

Baked Spaghetti. 

“ Spaghetti ” is otherwise known as “ small ” or “ straw ” 
macaroni, and is considered more delicate, as it is certainly prettier 
than the “ large ” or “ pipe macaroni.” Break half a pound into 
even lengths, perhaps into two-inch pieces. It is easier to serve 
and eat it thus than when long coils of it drip over dish and plate. 
Cook it gentl}'' in boiling, salted water until clear and tender, but 
not broken. Twenty minutes should sufS.ce. Drain it, and fill a 
buttered bake-dish with layers of spaghetti divided by layers of 
grated cheese and butter-bits, seasoned with salt, add a cupful of milk, 
raising the layers to let it sink to the bottom ; strain grated cheese 
thickly on the top, and bake, covered, for half an hour. Afterward 
brown on the upper grating of the oven. 


Fried Bananas. 

Pare, then slice sound, ripe bananas lengthwise, roll in flour, 
until thickl}^ coated, and fry to a delicate brown in butter. Line a 
dish with white, soft paper, lay each slice on it as you take it up, to 
absorb the grease and send to table very hot. 


Orange Pudding. 

Three eggs ; One cnp of sugar ; two tablespoonfuls of butter; 
juice of two oranges, and half the grated peel of one; juice of a 





270 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


lemon; grated peel of half a lemon; two teaspoonfiils of corn¬ 
starch or arrowroot—the latter is the better of the two. 

Whip butter and sugar to a cream ; whip in, by degrees, orange 
and lemon-juice and grated peel; lastly, the yolks of the eggs, and 
the arrowroot wet with water; have ready a pie-plate lined with a 
nice paste ; fill with the mixture and bake ; make a meringue of 
the beaten whites, and a heaping tablespoonful of powdered sugar, 
whipping in a teaspoonful of lemon-juice at the last; when the 
pudding is firm and begins to brown, spread this on the top and leave 
in the oven until the meringue is “ set ” and incrusted on the surface. 


No. 5. 

BREAKFAST. 

Wheaten Grits. 

Farina Cakes. 

Cold Bread. Berries. 

Coffee. 


Fresh Mackerel. 

Clean, wash, wipe inside and cut, pepper, salt and roll in Indian 
meal and fry in hot lard or good dripping ; drain, and ser\’'e hot. If 
you wish a sauce for them, add to half a cup of boiling water the 
juice of a lemon, a quarter-teaspoonful of mustard and a table¬ 
spoonful of butter rolled in one of browned flour; salt to liking ; 
boil up once and serve in a gravy boat. 


Fresh Mackerel. 
Stewed Potatoes. 

Tea. 


Farina Cakes. 

One quart of milk; two cups of boiling water; half a cup of 
farina; three eggs; one scant cup of prepared flour ; one table- 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


27J 

spoonful of melted lard ; one teaspoonful of salt; one tablespoonful 
of molasses. Mix the farina with the boiling water, stir in salt and 
lard, beat hard, and let it stand in a cool place all night; then beat 
in the eggs, the molass^es, the milk—gradually—and, lastly, the 
flour, stirring all hard; bake on a hot, greased griddle. They are 
very nice, if the batter is not too stiff. 


LUNCHEON. 

Galantine. Minced Potatoes. Cress Salad. 

Crackers and Cheese. Cake and Cocoa-theta. 


Galantine. 

Cut from a piece of fat, fresh pork an oblong piece of skin, five 
or six inches wide, and eight or ten long. Leave a lining of fat on 
the inside. Lay in vinegar enough to cover it for four hours ; then, 
spread on a platter, and cover the fat-lining with minced meat of • 
any kind and all kinds (ham holding an important place) veal, 
mutton, beef, liver, poultry, etc., seasoned piquantly with pepper, 
salt, herbs, onion, a touch of spice, and a pinch of grated lemon- 
peel. Moisten with gravy, and put in a bit of fat, now and then. 
Fold up the pork-rind on all, bringing the edges together, and 
putting in a stitch or two to hold them in place. Wrap in a single 
thickness of stout cloth, sewing it closely about it, and put on to 
boil in plenty of cold water, in which is mixed half a cup of 
vinegar to each quart of water. Boil slowly five hours ; let the 
galantine get nearly cold in the water, take it out and lay under 
heavy weights all night; undo and remove the cloth, clip the 
threads and draw them out, trim off the edges, and it is ready for 




272 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


the table. Cut clear through skiu and stuffing in carving it in neat 
slices. This “ relish ” is very fine. 


Minced Potatoes. 

Mince cold boiled potatoes with a sharp knife; put a spoonful 
of beef dripping, or butter in a frying pan, with a tablespoonful of 
finely minced parsley, a quarter teaspoonful of grated lemon peel, 
pepper and salt. As it simmers stir in the potatoes, and continue 
to stir and toss until very hot all through and quite dry. Serve in 
a deep dish, hot. 


Cress Salad. 

Wash and pick over the cresses, shake off the wet, and serve in 

* 

a salad bowl. At table, pick the twigs to pieces and season with 
sugar, pepper, salt, vinegar and oil. Mix well, and pass crackers 
with it. 


DINNER. 

Asparagus Soup. Boiled Bass. 

Roast Sweet Breads and Green Peas. 

Mashed Potatoes. Young Onions. 

Belle’s Bright Thought. 

Coffee. 


Asparagus Soup. 

Three pints of soup stock; one large bunch of asparagus, cut 
into short lengths, the woody parts by themselves ; one cup of milk; 






SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 273 

one tablespoonfiil of butter, rolled in one of prepared flour; pepper 
and salt. 

Put the stock over the fire with all the stalks and one-third of 
the green heads; cook until the asparagus can be rubbed through 
a colander, leaving the wood behind; rub all through that will pass 
easily ; returu the soup to the fire, season, and bring to a boil; drop 
in the reserved heads cut into inches; cook until these are tender. 
In another vessel heat the milk, stir in the floured butter, and add 
to the soup. Line a tureen with dice of fried bread, and pour the 
soup upon them. 


Boiled Bass. 

Clean and wash the fish, but do not split it or remove the head 
and tail; sew up in a piece of mosquito netting fitted to the shape of 
the fish. Have in the fish-kettle plenty of boiling water, in which 
have been mixed a few tablespoonfuls of vinegar, a dozen pepper¬ 
corns, two or three blades of mace, and a tablespoonful of salt. 
Cook ten minutes for each pound, and ten minutes over. Undo the 
cloth, lay the fish on a hot dish and pour over it a cup of drawn 
butter, seasoned with a tablespoonful of capers and the yolks of two 
hard boiled eggs, chopped fine. Pass mashed potatoes with it. 


Roast Sweetbreads and Peas. 

Wash the sweetbreads, drop into boiling water, cook for fifteen 
minutes; then plunge into ice-cold water, and leave them there half 
an hour. Wipe dry, roll in beaten egg, then in cracker crumbs. 
Lay in a dripping pan ; pour around them half a cupful of boiling 
water in which you have melted a teaspoouful of butter; cover, and 




274 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


bake them half an hour, basting several times. Remove the cover, 
and brown. Boil the peas as directed in a former recipe, drain, butter 
pepper and salt them, heap on a hot dish and lay the sweetbreads 
around them. 


Young Onions. 

Cut oflF the tops, wash, remove the outer layer of skin, and boil 
fifteen minutes in fresh hot water. Drain this off, cover the onions 
with milk and hot water in equal proportions, salt slightly, and 
cook ten minutes after the boil recommences, or until the onions are 
tender. Drain, barely cover with hot cream or rich milk in which a 
lump of butter has been melted, salt and pepper, and send to table. 
No one who has once eaten onions cooked in this way will ever like 
those prepared (or ruined) after the ordinary mode. 


Belle’s Bright Thought. 

One package of Coxe’s gelatine, soaked for four hours in a large 
cup of cold water; two cups of boiling water; juice of a lemon; 
one cup of pale sherry ; two cups of sugar; whites of six eggs; 
three piuts of fine strawberries. 

Put soaked gelatine, sugar, lemon juice, into a bowl, pour in the 
boiling water, stir until dissolved, and let it cool, but not congeal, 
before adding the wine. Whip the whites to a stiff froth, and beat 
in a great spoonful of the jelly at a time, setting the bowl of 
meringue in ice-water as you work. When all the jelly is in, whip • 
steadily for fifteen minutes, until you have a white sponge which 
will just drop from a spoon. Have ready a melon-shaped mold, or 
a round bottomed bowl wet with cold water, and lined evenly with 
strawberries, capped and rolled in sugar. As you cover the bottom, 




SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


275 


pour in enough of the snowy sponge to keep them in place, building 
up the lining and filling thus until the mold is full. Set on ice for 
five or six hours. Loosen around the edges witL. persuasive finger¬ 
tips, turn out on a cold dish, sprinkle with powdered sugar as you 
serve, cut in careful perpendicular slices, and send around cream 
with it. For cream you may substitute custard if you like. A 
beautiful and delicious dessert, and easily made. 


No.6. 

BREAKFAST. 

Wheat Germ Meal. Broiled Shad. Melissa’s Shortcake. 

Baked Potatoes. Bread and Butter. Berries. 

Tea and Coffeee. 


Whe.\t Germ Meal. 

This breakfast cereal is less heating than oatmeal, less laxative 
than wheaten grits, and more palatable than either. To one quart 
of boiling water, add one small cupful of wheat germ meal, with a 
half-teaspoonful of salt. Stir, and cook in the farina-kettle for 
fifteen minutes. Eat with sugar and cream, or with cream alone. 


Broiled Shad. 

Clean, wash and split the fish down the back. Lay on a well- 
buttered gridiron, skin upward, and broil over a clear fire, lifting a 
moment should it drip on the coals or brown into bum. Turn the 
fish when the inside is browned. When it is done—from twenty to 
twenty-five minutes should sufi&ce for a fair-sized shad—lay on a 





276 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


hot platter, and rub with a sauce made by beating a tablespoonful 
of butter light with pepper, salt and finely minced parsley, adding, 
if you like, a little lemon juice. Garnish with parsley. 


Melissa’s Shortcake. 

One quart of Hecker’s prepared flour; half a cupful of butter; 
one even teaspoonful of salt; two cups of milk. 

If you can get a cup of cream, put half the quantity of milk and 
less butter. Sift the salt with the flour, chop in the butter until 
you have a yellow dust, wCt with the milk and roll out with as 
little handling as, possible, half-an-inch thick. Bake in broad, 
shallow pans well greased. When done, cut into squares, split 
and butter while hot, and send at once to table. 


LUNCHEON. 

Scalloped Fish. Baked Potatoes. 

Deviled Biscuits. 

Pop Overs. Chocolate. 


Scalloped Fish. 

One heaping cupful of cold, boiled fish, picked into fine flakes 
with a fork; one cupful of drawn butter; one tablespoonful of 
minced parsley ; pepper and salt; half-cupful of fine crumbs ; one 
tablespoonful of grated cheese. 

Mix all well together except the crumbs, turn into a greased 
bake-dish, strew crumbs on top, and brown quickly in the 


oven. 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 277 

Deviled Biscuits. 

Split stale rolls or biscuits, and toast' to a light brown on the 

upper grating of the oven. Prepare a mixture of one cupful of 

dry cheese, grated fine (Parmesan, if you can get it), one table- 
♦ 

spoonful of best salad oil, half a teaspoonful of mustard, half a 
teaspoonful of salt, a mere pinch of cayenne, and the yolks of three 
eggs beaten smooth. Incorporate faithfully ; spread on the inside 
of the biscuits; set them in a quick oven to get heated through^ 
and serve, covered with a napkin. 


Pop Overs. 

One quart of prepared flour (Hecker’s is best) ; one quart of 
milk; four eggs; one tablespoonful of melted butter; one tea¬ 
spoonful of salt. 

Beat the yolks light, and mix with the salted milk; add the 
butter, then flour, and whipped whites alternately. Do all this 
briskly ; fill one dozen stoneware cups with the batter, and bake in 
a quick oven. Serve in the cups, and eat with liquid sauce. They 
should not stand one minute when you have taken them from the 
oven, but be served at once. 


DINNER. 


Mulligatawney Soup. 

Mashed Potatoes. 
Marmalade Pudding. 


Imitation Terrapin. 
Succotash. 

Fruit. Coffee. 


Mulligatawney Soup. 

Two quarts of the liquor in which a calf’s head has been boiled, 
simmered down to three pints; half an onion; a blade of mace; 





278 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


juice of a lemon; half a cupful of raw rice, soaked in a cupful of 
cold water for two hours; one tablespoonful of butter, cut u]) in 
one of hour; one teaspoonful of curry powder. 

Strain the liquor through a cloth, put in the mace, chopped 
onion and rice, and cook until the latter is very tender. Wet the 
curry powder with the lemon-juice, aud wheu 3'’ou have stirred it in, 
add the floured butter. Boil sharply for one minute, aud serve. 


Imitation Terrapin. 

Boil a calf’s head the day before yon wish to make soup and 
this dish, and let it get cold in the liquor. Slice the meat from the 
head, and cut into dice. Mince the tongue fine, and make into 
forcemeat-balls with fine crumbs, pepper, salt, and a raw egg. Roll 
in beaten egg, then in flour, and leave in a cold place until you are 
ready for them. Season a large cupful of liquor sharply with 
Worcestershire sauce and salt, stir in two tablespoonfuls of butter 
rolled in as much browned flour, and bring to a boil. Put in the 
meat, and stew gently ten minutes before adding the juice of a 
lemon and a glass of brown sherry. Lastly, drop in the forcemeat 
balls, cover the saucepan closely, and set in boiling water for ten 
minutes before dishing. The yolks of half a dozen hard-boiled 
eggs improve this dish. 


Succotash. 

Empty a can of com, aud oue of string beans, several hours 
before you wish to use them, draining off the liquor from both. Put 
together into a saucepan half an hour before dinner, and barel\" 
cover with milk and water in equal parts, boiling hot and slightly" 
salted. Cook gently twenty minutes, aud stir in a tablespoonful of 




SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


279 


butter rolled in one of flour. Season with pepper and salt, stew ten 
minutes more and dish. You may substitute Lima for string beans 
if you like. 


Marmalade Pudding. 

One quart of milk ; four eggs ; one cup of sugar ; slices of stale 
bread, buttered. 

Fruit marmalade,—peach is best if you have it, but apple, 
quince or raspberry will do if you have not. Scald the milk, and 
pour it ou the eggs, which should have been beaten light with the 
sugar. Return to the farina kettle, and cook flve minutes, but not 
until the custard thickens. Cut the bread an inch thick, pare off 
the crust, butter on both sides, and cover the bottom of a pudding- 
dish with slices fitted in neatly. Spread the marmalade thickly on 
this layer, and wet with the boiling custard, waiting to see it 
absorbed before putting another layer above it. Proceed in this 
order until all the materials are used up. Fit a plate, or other lid, 
on the bake-dish and let the whole stand for half an hour, to 
absorb the custard before it goes into the oven. Bake, covered, 
until the pudding is heated through, then, brown nicely. Eat 
cold with cream. This excellent pudding may be made more 
elegant by whipping the whites of three eggs to a meringue with 
a tablespoonful of powdered sugar, and spreading it over the top 
after it begins to brown. Shut the oven door until the meringue is 
faintly colored. 


Fruit. 

With the approach of the warmer weather, the prudent housewife 
will pay more attention to this part of her incnu. Make the dish of 
cooling, anti-bilious fruits attractive by selection and arrangement. 




28 o 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Nuts belong to winter-time when fats are needed to produce carbon. 
Raisins, always unwholesome, clog digestion weakened by “ spring 
fever,” and irritate morbid livers. “ Eating-apples ” are nearly out 
of season, but oranges and bananas valiantly relieve guard between 
them and the grapes and late pears that lasted after the holidays, 
and the coming berries. The juice of a lemon, mixed with four 
times as much water, unsugared, and drunk just before bedtime, 
will do more to counteract malarial influences and correct a surplus¬ 
age of bile than a dozen blue pills. 


No. T. 

BREAKFAST. 

% 

Graham Flakes. Apples and Bacon. Corn Bread. 

Baked Potatoes. Fruit. Coffee. Tea. 


Graham Flakes. 

These are otherwise known as “ Granulated Graham,” and fur¬ 
nish a pleasant variety in the list of breakfast cereals. They can 
be prepared at five minutes’ notice. Put a scant cupful in a deep 
dish; cover with a quart of boiling milk and water; put on the 
dish-top, set in hot water, and let the flakes swell until you are ready 
to dish them. Add salt if you like. Eat with cream and sugar. 


Apples and Bacon. 

Core and slice tart apples, but do not peel them. Fry thin 
slices of breakfast bacon until clear and “ ruffled.” Take them up 
and keep warm while you fry the sliced apples in the bacon fat to a 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


281 


light brown. Lay the apples in the middle of a heated platter, and 
dispose the bacon about them as a garnish. Drain both meat and 
apples in a hot colander before dishing them. 


Corn Bread. 

One-and-a-half cups of white Indian meal, and half as much 
flour; four eggs whipped light; two tablespoonfuls of melted but¬ 
ter ; one tablespoonful of sugar; two teaspoonfuls of baking 
powder, sifted twice with the flour and meal; two cups of milk; 
one even teaspoonful of salt. 

Stir sugar and butter together to a cream ; add the beaten eggs; 
beat two minutes, and put in the milk and salt; last of all, the 
meal and flour mixed together, and sifted with the baking powder; 
beat up one minute to aerate it thoroughly, and pour into a shallow 
pan. Bake steadily, rather than fast, and eat hot, cutting it into 
squares. 

LUNCHEON. 

Salmon Fingers. Dressed Potatoes. 

Crackers. Cheese. Olives , 

i 

Corn Starch Hasty-Pudding. 

Hasty-Pudding Sauce. 


Salmon Fingers. 

Soak a pound of smoked salmon four or five hours in tepid 
water, when you have scrubbed off the incrusting salt. Lay then in 
cold water, and bring it to a gentle boil. Take out the salmon and 





282 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


cover \\ 4 th ice-cold water, leaving it thus for fifteen minutes, chang¬ 
ing the water once for colder. Wipe the fish dr}", and cut with a 
keen blade into strips about the length of your middle finger, and 
an inch wide. Have ready in a dish some melted butter in which 
have been mixed the juice of a lemon, a teaspoonful of Har\'ey’s, or 
Worcestershire sauce, and a pinch of cayenne. Turn the strips of fish 
over in this, until well coated, then, roll in flour and fr}" in hot 
dripping. Arrange symmetrically on a hot dish. This is a piquant 
relish and easily prepared. 

Dressed Potatoes. 

Bake large Irish potatoes, turning them several times to keep 
the skin whole. When they yield to a hard pinch, cut a piece from 
the top of each, scrape out the insides carefully, and whip to a 
smooth paste with a little milk, butter, grated cheese, salt and pep¬ 
per. Work the potato until it looks like cream, fill the skins with 
it put back the caps on the cut ends, and set the potatoes upright in a 
hot oven for three or four minutes. Dine a deep dish with a napkin, 
and send the potatoes in it to table. 


Corn Starch Hasty-Puddixg. 

One quart of boiling milk ; four tablespoonfuls of com starch ; 
one teaspoonful of salt; one tablespoonful of butter. 

Wet the com starch with cold milk and stir into the boiling. 
Cook in a farina kettle ten minutes, beat in the butter and, this 
dissolved and incorporated, turn into an open deep dish. 


Hasty-Pudding Sauce. 

One cup of hot milk ; one cup of sugar ; two eggs ; one table¬ 
spoonful of butter. 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


283 

Stir the butter into the boiling milk, add the sugar, and pour 
this- on the beaten eggs. Return to the custard-kettle and stir 
until it begins to thicken. Flavor with vanilla, adding, if you like, 
nutmeg, and set in hot, not boiling, water until needed. 


DINNER. 

Fish Bisque. Roast Sweetbreads. 

Imitation Spaghetti. 

Rice and Tomato. Graziella Pudding. 

Fruit. Coffee. 

Fish Blsoue. 

Strain the water in which fresh cod or halibut has been boiled, 
through a cloth, season with pepper and salt, and set away in a 
cold place for next day’s dinner. Of this make a bisque as directed 
below. 

To a quart of the liquor, heated to boiling, add a cupful of the 
cold fish left over, minced very fine; when it has simmered five 
minutes, stir in three tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in one of flour 
and a tablespoonful of minced parsley. Have ready in another 
vessel a cup of hot milk in which a scant cup of dry crumbs has 

been stirred, with a bit of soda no larger than a pea. Mix these 

with the soup, stirring all together well, simmer one minute, and 
serve. If made exactly according to the directions given and well 
seasoned, this bisque will be very good. Send sliced lemon and 
crackers around with it. 

Roast Sweetbreads. 

Parboil the sweetbreads by cooking them for ten minutes in 
boiling salted water. Drop them into a bowl of ice-water and leave 





284 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


them stand there fifteen minutes, changing the water as it warms. 
Wipe dry, roll in salted and peppered flour, and arrange in dripping 
pan. Put a teaspoonful of butter on each, and roast forty-five 
minutes, basting often with butter-and-water. Take up, and keep 
hot in a chafing-dish while you strain the gravy into a saucepan ; 
add a little hot water, and a tablespoonful of butter cut up in one 
of browned flour. Season and boil up, add half a can of mush¬ 
rooms, cut in halves, cook three minutes, and pour over the 
sweetbreads. 


Imitation Spaghetti. 

Boil and mash potatoes, adding salt and butter, but only a table- 
spoonful of milk, as you want a stiff paste. Rub this through a 
colander into a buttered pie or pudding dish. It will fall in small, 
pipe-like shapes. Leave them as they lie, and, when all the potato 
has passed through, set the dish on the upper grating of the oven 
to brown delicately. 

Rice and Tomato. 

Boil a cupful of rice in salted water (plenty of it), shaking now 
and then until each grain is tender, but whole. Have ready a 
cupful of stewed and strained tomatoes, well seasoned with butter, 
pepper, salt and some minute atoms of onion. Dish the rice, stir a 
generous tablespoonful of butter through it, with two of grated 
cheese. Mix well, and pour the tomato sauce over all. Set in hot 
water for five minutes, covered, and serve. A little gravy is an 
improvement to the sauce. 

Graziella Pudding. 

Half a pound of figs ; two cups of fine bread crumbs ; one half¬ 
cup of powdered suet; two cups of milk; one half-cup of sugar; 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


285 


four eggs ; two tablespoonfiils of flour; a good pinch of cinnamon; 
bit of soda, the size of a pea, in the milk; one half-teaspoonful of 
salt. 

Cover the crumbs with the milk, and let them soak while 3'ou 
prepare the rest of the materials. Mince the figs, when you have 
washed and dried them. Beat the eggs light and add to the soaked 
crumbs, next, the sugar and spice and salt, and, finally, the figs 
dredged with the two tablespoonfuls of flour. (All the flour must 
go in.) Beat very hard from the bottom to the top, pour into a 
buttered mold, fit on a close lid, and steam for three hours. Dip 
the mold into cold water for a second, turn out, and eat with hard 
sauce. 


No. 8. 

BREAKFAST. 

Hominy. Pop-overs. 

Eggs in Toast Cups. 

Stewed Potatoes. Strawberries. 

Tea. Coffee. 


POP-OVERS. 

One pint of Hecker’s prepared flour, sifted with half a teaspoonful 
of salt; two cups of rich milk ; two eggs. 

Sift flour into a bow!; beat the yolks light, stir the milk and 
flour into this. Lastly, add the whites whipped stiff”. Bake 
immediately in heated and greased “ gem ” or muffin tins. Send at 
once to the table. 


Eggs in Toast-Cups. 

Slice stale bread three-quarters of an inch thick, and cut with a 
large cake-cutter, or tumbler, into rounds Press a small cutter on 





286 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


these about half the way through, and scrape out the crumb from 
the inner circles, leaving sides and bottoms unbroken. Set in the 
oven to dry for ten minutes ; take them out and let them cool. 
Have ready some salted lard or dripping in a frying-pan; put in 
the bread-cups when it is hissing hot, and fry to a light brown. 
Take out, drain off the fat, arrange on a hot dish, and lay a poached 
egg in the cavity of each. I regret that I do not now recall the name 
of the maker of a convenient utensil called, “ an egg poacher.” It 
is to be bought at house-furnishing stores, and greatly simplifies the 
business of poaching eggs nicely, and with smooth edges. 


Strawberries. 

Serve the larger varieties, whole, with the caps on. Send 
around powdered sugar with them, and let each person help him¬ 
self, dipping the berries, one by one, in a little heap of sugar on his 
plate and eating them from the caps. 


LUNCHEON. 

Savory Rice and Brains. 

Tomato and Lettuce Salad. Crackers and Cheese. 

Cold Bread and Butter. 

Ambrosia. Light Cakes. 

Savory Rice and Brains. 

One cup of rice; one cup of skimmed gravy or broth, well 
seasoned; one pint of boiling water; two tablespoonfuls of grated 
cheese ; salt and pepper; one egg; brains of a calf. 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


287 


Soak the rice three hours in cold water; drain, and put over the 
fire in a farina kettle, Avith the broth and hot water. Cook nntil 
tender, shaking np now and then, hut do not pnt a spoon into it. 
When done, it should be quite dry. Drain in a fine-holed 
colander; mound on a platter; sift powdered cheese over it, 
and let it brown slightly on the upper grating of the oven. To 
prepare the brains, boil them fifteen minntes in salted hot water, 
throw them into cold, and leave them there as long; dry, mash 
them to a paste with a beaten egg; pepper and salt them ; stir in a 
teaspoonful of flour, and drop, a spoonful at a time, into hot fat. 
Drain, when nicely browned, and lay around the hillock of rice. 

Tomato and Lettuce Salad. 

Pick out the crispest leaves of lettuce; lay a raw tomato, peeled 
and cut in half (horizontall}^) on each; arrange on a cold dish; 
scatter cracked ice among the leaves, and send to table. In serving, 
pour mayonnaise dressing over the tomato. 

Ambrosia. 

Pare and cut (or pull) a ripe pineapple into small pieces. Put a 
layer in a dish ; sugar well; cover with grated cocoanut; lay in 
more sugared pineapple, and so on, until the materials are used up, 
covering the top thickly with cocoanut. Pass sponge, or other light 
cake with it. 


DINNER. 

Clam Soup. Leg of Mutton, with Caper Sauce. 

Lobster Salad, with Cream Mayonnaise. 

Mashed Potatoes. Green Peas. 

Crushed-Strawberry Ice-Cream. 

White Cake. Coffee. 





288 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Clam Soup. 

One quart of clam liquor ; fifty clams ; one cupful of boiling 
water; one pint of milk; two generous tablespooufuls of butter 
rolled in flour; a teaspoonful, each, of minced parsley and onion;^ 
a pinch of mace; pepper and salt to taste. 

Put the liquor, water, onion, and the hard part of the clams 
over the fire ; stir gently for twenty minutes after the boil begins ; 
strain and season ; return to to the fire with the soft parts of the 
clams, chopped fine, and boil slowly twenty minutes longer. Have 
ready the milk, scalding hot, in another vessel; stir in the floured 
butter, cook two minutes, add the clam soup and turn into the 
tureen, which should be lined with split Boston crackers, dipped in 
hot milk, then buttered. 


Leg of Mutton, with Caper Sauce. 

Wash with vinegar, peeling off as much of the tough outer skin 
as will come away easily; boil, twelve minutes to the pound, in a 
pot of hot salted water ; take out, wipe all over with a clean cloth 
and rub with butter. For the sauce, take out a large cupful of the 
liquor half an hour before the meat is done ; set the vessel contain¬ 
ing this in cold water to throw up the fat; skim carefully, strain 
into a saucepan, bring to a boil, stir in a great spoonful of butter 
rubbed in as much flour. When it has cooked three minutes, add 
two tablespoonfuls of capers. 


Lobster Salad—with Cream Mayonnaise. 

Meat of two lobsters picked out and cut, not chopped, up; one 
large cup of mayonnaise dressing; one cup of whipped cream; 
lettuce. 




SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


289 


Alake the ma3^onuaise dressing by whipping the yolks of five 
eggs thick, then adding half a cup of best salad oil, drop by drop, 
until 3'OU have a smooth, batter-like mixture ; beat in, then, two 
tablespoonfnls of vinegar, gradually,—a pinch of cayenne, and 
half a saltspoonful of salt; keep the mixing-bowl on ice while pre¬ 
paring the dressing, and leave it there while you sprinkle the 
lobster with salt, pepper and vinegar. Heap it in a bowl lined with 
crisp lettuce leaves. Do this just before serving it; beat the 
whipped cream into the dressing, cover the lobster thickly with it, 
and send it to table. 


Crushed-Strawberry Ice-Cream. 

Mash a quart of strawberries, sweeten very liberally, and stir 
them into two quarts of half-frozen custard, made in the proportion 
of six eggs and a heaping half pint of sugar to each quart of 
milk. Beat the berries in thorougliEq and freeze quickly. 
Delicious ! 


White Cake. 

Three cups of sugar; one cup of butter; one half-cup of milk ; 
whites of nine eggs ; one quart of Hecker’s prepared flour; essence of 
vanilla, or bitter almond. 

FOR ICING AND FILLING. 

Whites of three eggs; three cups of powdered sugar; juice 
and grated peel of a lemon. 

Rub butter and sugar to a cream, whip in the milk, essence, the 
flour and stiffened whites by turns ; bake in jelly cake tins, and 
when cool, spread the icing between and on top. 




290 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Xo. Q. 

BREAKFAST. 

Milk and Rice Porridge. 

Shad au gratin. Aunt Chloe’s Muffins. 

Fried Potatoes. Berries. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Milk and Rice Porridge. 

One scant cup of rice, soaked over night in cold water; one 
quart of milk : one-half teaspoonful of salt. 

Put salted milk and rice together in a farina kettle, fit on a close 
top, and keep the water in the outer vessel at a steady boil for one 
hour, shaking up vigorously, now and then, but not stirring. 
Turn out and eat with cream, and if you like, sugar. 


Shad an gratin. 

Clean, split and cut a shad into eight pieces, four for each side, 
sprinkle with salt and pepper, roll in beaten egg, then in fine 
cracker crumbs, and fry in hot lard or dripping; drain off the 
grease. Serve on a hot dish garnished with sliced lemon and 
sprigs of parsley. 

Aunt Chloe’s Muffins. 

One even quart of sifted flour; one quart of buttermilk ; two 
tablespoonfuls of Indian meal; one teaspoonful of soda, and one of 
salt, sifted three times with the meal and flour; two well-beaten 
eggs; one even tablespoonful of sugar. 

Beat the eggs, mix with the sugar, then with the milk ; add the 
flour sifted with soda and salt, beat hard one minute, and bake at 
once in muffin rings on a hot griddle. 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


291 


LUNCHEON. 


Chicken Croquettes. 


Home-made Crackers. 


Lettuce Salad. 


Bread. 


Cheese. 

Cornmeal Cup Cake. 


Olives. 


Chicken Croquettes. 


Two pounds of cold chicken without bones, or one can of boned 
chicken; one cup of cold mashed potato—made soft with milk ; 
two eggs ; half a cup of gravy, or drawn butter; salt and pepper; 
cracker crumbs ; dripping for frying. 

Chop the chicken very fine, mix with the gravy, and season. 
Beat in the eggs, then the potato, and stir until smoking hot, in a 
buttered frying pan. Let the mixture cool quickly. Make into 
croquettes, roll in fine cracker dust and fry in plenty of nice fat. 


Home-Made Crackers. 


One quart of prepared flour; three good tablespoonfuls of 
butter ; two tablespoonfuls of sugar ; one pint of milk ; one half 
teaspoonful of salt. 

Rub the butter into the flour, put the sugar with the milk, mix 
into stiff dough, lay on the floured pastry board, and beat from end 
to end with the rolling pin, stopping every five minutes, or so, to 
shift the mass, and double it over upon itself Keep this up for 
twenty minutes; roll into a sheet, less than a quarter of an inch 
thick, cut into round cakes, prick these deeply with a fork, and 
bake in a moderate oven. They are better the second day than the 


first. 




292 


HOUSE ‘AND HO:\IE. 


Lettuce Salad. 

Pick over the lettuce, selecting the crisp, young leaves, wash 
them and lay in ice-water for fifteen minutes before sending to the 
table in a glass bowl. Send with it a salad dish lined with a napkin. 
Pick the larger leaves to pieces, and fill the salad bowl with them. 
Gather up the corners of the napkin, shake it lightl}^, and turn out 
the lettuce into the bowl. Season with pepper, salt, sugar, vinegar 
and oil; toss up well with a salad fork and spoon, and send around 
at once. Salad left three minutes in the dressing begins to wilt 
and toughen. 

CoRNMEAL Cup Cake. 

Two even cups of white Indian meal; half a cup of wheat flour; 
four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar; four beaten eggs ; one 
tablespoonful of butter; half a teaspoonful of soda ; one teaspoonful 
of cream tartar ; one teaspoonful of salt, sifted with meal and flour ; 
one-half teaspoonful of mixed mace and cinnamon; one quart of 
boiling milk. 

Stir flour, meal, salt, soda, cream tartar into the hot milk; heat 
for fifteen minutes in a farina kettle surrounded with boiling water, 
stirring all the time; add the butter, turn out and beat hard; let 
the mixture get cold before beating in the eggs, whipped light with 
sugar and spice; stir hard and bake in buttered patty pans ; turn 
out and eat warm with butter. 


DINNER. 

White Soup. 

Veal and Ham Cutlets. Asparagus. 

Young Beets. Strawberry Trifle. 

Coffee. 




SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 
White Soup. 


293 


Three pounds of a “ knuckle ” of veal, bones broken, and meat 
minced ; one balf-cup of raw rice ; three quarts of water; two table¬ 
spoonfuls of butter, rubbed in flour ; half an onion chopped; three 
; one cup of milk ; two tablespoonfuls of minced parsley; salt 
and pepper to taste. 

Put water, meat, bones, rice and onions over the fire, and boil 
very slowly for four hours. Strain, pick out meat and bones and 
rub the rice through a fine colander. Season, return to the fire, 
boil up, skim well, and put in parsley and butter. Heat the milk 
in a saucepan, pour upon the beaten eggs, and stir into the soup, 
removing the latter from the fire as soon as they are fairly mixed 
together. 


Veal and Ham Cutlets. 

Cut generous slices of cold boiled ham, and fry them in their 
own fat, remove to a hot chafing dish, and in the same fat, adding a 
little lard, cook the cutlets when you have beaten them flat with 
the broad side of a hatchet, salted and peppered, then dipped them in 
egg and cracker crumbs. Lay them in overlapping alternation 
with the ham on a hot dish. 


Asparagus. 

Cut off about two inches of the woody end of each stalk, tie the 
tender “ bud ” ends into bundles of six stalks each, and boil tender— 
about thirty minutes, if large, in hot, salted water. Have ready 
slices of crustless toast on a hot dish, wet with the water in 
which the asparagus was cooked; lay the stalks on them, and pour 
drawn butter over all. 




294 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Young Beets. 


Cut off the tops, not too near the root, wash, without scraping 
or peeling, and cook from forty minutes to an hour in hot, salted 
water. Scrape off the skins, slice and dish, then cover them with 
a dressing made by heating four tablespoonfuls of vinegar with a 
heaping tablespoonful of butter, salt and pepper to liking. 


Strawberry Trifle. 


One stale sponge cake, sliced; four eggs, whites and yolks 
beaten separately; four cups of milk ; one cup of sugar; three pints 
of fresh strawberries. 

Scald the milk, beat in the sugar and yolks, and cook, until it 
begins to thicken—about ten minutes. Let it get cold. Cover the 
bottom of a glass dish with sliced cake, wet with cold custard and 
fitrew with berries, sprinkle with sugar, cover with cake, wet this 
with custard, more berries, sugared, and so on until the cake is used 
up. Pour in all the custard, beat the whites to a meringue with a 
tablespoonful of powdered sugar, and heap on the top of the dish, 
sticking a few choice berries in the white mound. Set on ice until 
needed. It should be eaten soon after the berries go in. 


No. lo. 


BREAKFAST. 


Oatmeal Gruel. 


Curried Eggs. 


Flapjacks. 

Fruit. 


Baked Potatoes. 


Coffee. 


Cold Bread. 


Tea. 




295 


SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 

Oatmeal Gruel. 

One even cup of fresh oatmeal; one pint of cold water; one 
pint of milk; one even teaspoonful of salt. 

Wet the oatmeal with the water, and set over the fire in a farina 
kettle, stirring often, and, as it stiffens, beating in a cupful of milk ; 
stir steadily five minutes after it reaches the boil, adding gradually 
the rest of the milk. Cook, in all, half an hour, dating from the 
scalding point. Turn out, and eat with sugar and cream. 


Curried Eggs. 

Put a teaspoonful of minced onion into a cupful of weak broth; 
let it boil, strain out the onion, put the broth into a deep frying-pan, 
season well, and poach six or eight eggs in it until the whites are 
firm; remove them with a skimmer, and lay on rounds of buttered 
toast in a heated platter. Pour half a cupful of hot milk in the 
bottom of the dish, and let the toast soak it up while you make the 
sauce. Do this by stirring into the broth in the frying-pan a table¬ 
spoonful of butter and, as it dissolves, a good teaspoonful of curry 
powder wet up with water. Simmer until thick and pour over the 
eggs in the dish. 


Flapjacks. 

One cup of fine white meal; one cup of flour; two cups of 
boiling water ; one tablespoonfnl of sugar ; one teaspoonful of salt 
and the same of baking powder; two eggs; three cups of milk. 

Put meal and salt into a bowl, and scald with the water; when 
it is cold, stir in the milk; sift flour and baking powder together, 
and beat in next, then, eggs and sugar whipped light together; 
beat for one minute hard up from the bottom, and bake on a hot 
griddle. 




296 


HOUSE AND HOME. 

LUNCHEON. 


Mock Snipe. 

Thin Bread and Butter. Rice Pilau. 

Cold Meat. Crackers. Cheese. Olives. 

Oranges cut up with Sugar. 

Cake. 


Mock Snipe. 

Cut very thin slices of fat salt pork about the length of your 
middle finger and twice as wide ; drain every drop of the liquor 
from large oysters; bind each about the middle with a slice of pork, 
skewer together with a wooden toothpick, or stout straw, thrust 
through both, and fry in butter or dripping to a nice brown ; drain 
off the fat, and serve, without withdrawing the toothpicks. Lay 
within an edging of watercresses. The sharp points of the skewers 
give the dish some resemblance to broiled snipe. Eat hot. 


Rice Pilau. 

One cup of weak broth, and the same of stewed tomatoes, 
strained through a fine sieve; one half-cup of raw rice ; one table¬ 
spoonful of butter; minced onion, pepper and salt. 

Simmer broth, tomatoes and onion together for fifteen minutes; 
strain out the onion, season well, and put over the fire with the 
rice, which should have soaked one hour in cold water; cook gently, 
until the rice is tender, shaking up the saucepan now and then, but 
never stirring it; add the butter, working it in lightly with a fork, 
and set it at the back of the range to dry off, as you would boiled 
potatoes. Serve in a heated, deep dish. 




297 


SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 

Oranges cut up with Sugar. 

Peel, without tearing the fruit, divide deftly into eighths, and cut 
these crosswise, removing the seed when it can be done without 
mangling the flesh. The beauty of the dish depends upon care in 
dividing, and seeding, and the keenness of the blade used for cutting. 
Pile in a glass dish, and sugar each portion as you serve it out. If 
the oranges are left long in sugar, they wither, and lose their fresh 
flavor. Pass cake with them. 


DINNER. 

Tomato Bisque. 

Chicken Fricassee, cache. Bermuda Onions, stuffed. 

Potato Croquettes. 

Chocolate Trifle. Light Cake. 

Fruit. Coffee. 

Tomato Bisque. 

One quart can of tomatoes; one quart of milk, with a tiny bit 
of soda stirred in; one even tablespoonful of corn-starch and a 
heaping tablespoonful of butter, rubbed together; salt and pepper 
to taste ; one half teaspoonful of sugar. 

Stew the tomatoes for half an hour with salt, pepper and sugar, 
rub through a flue colander back into the saucepan, and heat to 
boiling. Scald the milk in another vessel, add corn-starch and 
butter, and stir until well thickened. Mix with the tomato, bring 
to a quick, sharp boil, and a delicious soup is ready for eating. 

Chicken Fricassee, Cache. 

Cut up the fowl and stew tender in enough cold water to cover 
it. Pour off the liquor to cool, that you may skim off the fat. Cut 





298 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


the meat from the boues in neat pieces with a sharp knife. With 
these, neatly fill a bake-dish, cover and set aside. Put two table¬ 
spoonfuls of butter in a frying pan and cook in it, when hot, half 
an onion, sliced, until it is of a light brown. Strain the hot 
butter into a bowl, add two tablespoonfuls of flour, and, when you 
have a thick batter, the liquor (strained and skimmed) in which the 
chicken was stewed. Season well and pour upon the chicken. 
There should be enough liquid to fill the dish. Set in the oven, 
covered, while you mix quickly a pint of prepared flour into a soft 
biscuit-paste, with cold water or milk and shortening. Roll out 
into a sheet half an inch thick, cut into round cakes, and lay these, 
just touching one another, on the surface of the chicken-gravy. 
Shut up in the oven, and bake until the cakes are delicately 
browned and “ puffy.” Serve in the bake-dish. 


Bermuda Onions, Stuffed. 

Make a round hole in the upper end of each, dig out at least 
half the contents; set in a dish covered with warm, slightly salted 
water, and bring to a simmer. Throw away the water; carefully 
fill the onions with minced poultry or veal, put a bit of butter in 
the dish to prevent burning, scatter fine crumbs thickly over the 
onions, and bake, covered, half an hour. 


Potato Croquettes. 

Mash mealy potatoes to a soft paste with milk, and a little 
butter; work in a raw egg, well beaten, and a teaspoonful of 
prepared flour. Mold into rolls, rounded at the ends, dip in beaten 
egg, then in fine cracker crumbs, and fry in good dripping or salted 
lard. Croquettes are best when left to get cold and firm before they 
are cooked. Drain all the fat from them before dishing. 




SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 
Chocolate Trifle. 


299 


One quart of milk; four tablespoonfuls of Baker’s chocolate, 
that flavored with vanilla, if you can get it; three-quarters of a cup 
of sugar; six eggs ; one pint of whipped cream ; a saltspoonful of 
salt; one teaspoonful of extract of vanilla; bit of soda. 

Heat the milk in a farina-kettle with the soda and salt, wet up 
the chocolate with a little cold milk, and stir it in, keeping the 
spoon going until the chocolate is dissolved. Beat eggs and sugar 
together in a bowl, pour the hot milk and chocolate on them, mix 
thoroughly, and return to the fire, stirring industriously. When it 
has thickened nicely, pour it out, flavor, and set away to get cold. 
Just before dinner, turn into a glass bowl, and heap on top the 
whipped cream, slightly sweetened. Or, if you have custard cups, 
nearly fill them with the chocolate, and top them with the snowy 
cream. This is a pretty dessert. Send around fancy cakes, or 
arrange an attractive basket of alternate slices of sponge and angel 
cake. 


No. 11 
BREAKFAST. 

Milk Porridge. 

Brown Stew of Liver. Egg Gems. 

Baked Potatoes. Bread Toast. 

Coffee. Tea. Fruit. 


Milk Porridge. 

One pint of oatmeal; one pint, each, of boiling water and milk; 
one teaspoonful of salt. 




300 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Sift the meal into the salted hot water, stir well, and leave it all 
night on the cooking stove. In the morning, surround with boiling 
water and cook one hour without stirring ; add the hot milk, simmer 
ten minutes, and pour out. 

Brown Stew of Liver. 

Lay the sliced liver for half an hour in cold salt-and-water; 
wipe, and cut it into inch-square bits; fry half a sliced onion to a 
nice brown in dripping; strain out the onion, add a tablespoonful of 
browned flour to the fat, and stir to a smooth roux^ adding a cupful 
of boiling water as you go on; turn all into a saucepan, put in the 
liver with another cup of hot water, cover, and stew very slowly one 
hour, or until tender; season with pepper, salt, parsley, a teaspoon¬ 
ful of tomato catsup, and serve in a deep dish. 


Egg Gems. 

Three cups of prepared flour; three cups of milk; three eggs ; 
one saltspoonful of salt. 

Beat the eggs light, add milk, flour and salt; beat fast upward 
for one minute and a half; fill hot, greased gem pans; bake in a 
quick oven. Graham gems made by this recipe, substituting 
Graham flour for white, are delicious. 


LUNCHEON. 

Broiled Smoked Salmon. 

Sweetbread Salad. Oatmeal Scones. 

Bread. Butter. Pickles. 

Crackers and Cheese. 

Soft Gingerbread. Chocolate. 





301 


SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 

Broiled Smoked Salmon. 

One pound of smoked salmon ; two tablespoonfuls of butter; 
juice of a lemon ; cayenne pepper. 

Wash and soak the salmon for one hour; wipe, and with a 
sharp knife cut into strips three inches long and an inch wide ; 
parboil in hot water to which has been added a tablespoonful of 
vinegar and four or five whole cloves. When it has simmered for 
fifteen minutes, drain, wipe dry, and broil on a gridiron to a nice 
brown ; lay on a hot dish, butter well, squeeze the lemon over the 
strips, pepper, and serve. 

Sweetbread Salad. 

Parboil three sweetbreads for ten minutes in fresh hot water; 
drain, and throw them into ice-water to blanch them; when quite 
cold, cook fifteen minutes in salted boiling water, take out, wipe, 
and set where they will cool suddenly. This will make them firm 
and crisp. Cut into round slices. Line a salad bowl with lettuce, 
lay the sliced sweetbreads on the leaves, and pour a mayonnaise 
dressing over them. 


Oatmeal Scones. 

Three cups of oatmeal; one pint of white flour, prepared ; one 
pint of boiling milk; two tablespoonfuls of butter ; half a tea¬ 
spoonful of salt. 

Sift oatmeal, flour and salt twice together into a bowl, melt the 
butter in the milk, make a hole in the middle of the meal, &c., and 
pour this in. Stir into a soft dough as quickly as possible, roll into 
a sheet less than an eighth of an inch thick, cut into round cakes, 
and bake on a hot griddle. Butter while hot and serve. They are 
good cold, also. 




302 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Soft Gingerbread. 

Two heaping cups of flour; a scant half-cup of butter ; half-a- 
cup of milk; one cup of molasses, and two tablespoonfuls of sugar ; 
two eggs; one dessertspoonful of ground ginger; a half-teaspoonful 
of cinnamon; a quarter-teaspoonful of soda, sifted with the flour. 

Rub sugar, molasses and butter to a yellow cream, add the 
spices, the beaten yolks, the milk, whites and flour. Bake in two 
loaves in a moderate oven. 


DINNER. 

Cream Soup. Glazed Cod. Larded Chicken. 

Cauliflower with Cream Sauce. 

Browned Potatoes. Stewed Carrots. Fatima’s Puddings. 

Fruit, Coffee. 


Cream Soup. 

One quart of veal, or chicken, or mutton stock ; half cup of raw 
rice; yolks of three eggs ; one cupful of hot milk ; one tablespoon¬ 
ful of corn-starch wet up with cold milk ; salt, pepper and minced 
parsley. ^ 

Simmer rice and stock together until the grains are soft; rub 
through a colander or sieve, and put back into the soup pot; sea¬ 
son, stir in the com-starch, and simmer gently while you beat the 
yolks and pour over them the hot milk; add to the soup, cook one 
minute, but do not let it boil; serve in a hot tureen. 


Glazed Cod. 

Cut a steak from the most solid part of the fish, lay in salt and 
water for two hours, wipe dry, wash with vinegar and put into a 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


303 


dripping-pan, with half a cup of boiling water; turn another pan 
over it, and steam for half an hour; remove the upper pan, rub with 
butter, and season with salt and pepper; baste twice in the next ten 
minutes with the butter and water in the pan; drain this off into a 
sauce-pan; wash the fish over with two beaten eggs, and shut up 
in the oven for a minute to glaze ; thicken the gravy with brown 
flour; add the juice of a lemon and half a glass of wine; boil up, 
pour a few spoonfuls about the cod when dished, the rest into a 
boat. 


Larded Chickens. 

Draw, wash thoroughly and wipe the chickens; truss as for 
roasting; lard the breasts with strips of fat salt pork in regular 
lines an inch apart, each lardoon being a half inch from the next in 
its row; lay the chickens, breast uppermost, in a dripping-pan, 
with a half cup of boiling water, and roast, basting often; allow 
about twelve minutes to the pound; keep the chickens warm while 
you mince the boiled giblets, and stir them into the gravy with a 
thickening of browned flour. 


Cauliflower with Cheese Sauce. 

Boil in the usual way when done,* put into a deep dish, and pour 
over it a sauce made by heating a cup of milk, stirring into it a table- 
spoonful of butter, cut up in one of prepared flour, and, when this 
thickens, adding three great spoonfuls of dry, grated cheese. Sea¬ 
son with salt, and a dash of cayenne. 


Fatima’s Pudding. 

One half pound of “ lady fingers,” stale enough to crumble easily; 
one quart of hot milk; six eggs ; one cupful of sugar; grated peel 





304 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


of an orange, and half the grated peel of a lemon ; juice of two oranges; 
soak the crumbs in the hot milk; beat the eggs light, add the 
sugar and grated peel; when light, the milk and crumbs. Before 
the juice goes in, have a row of stone custard cups (buttered) ready- 
in a pan of boiling water at the oven-door; add the orange juice 
with a few strokes of the “ beater;” pour into the cups, and shut up 
at once in the oven ; bake half an hour, and turn out on a hot dish ; 
eat with the following sauce : two tablespoonfuls of butter, stirred 
into one of arrowroot or corn-starch ; a cup of powdered sugar ; two 
eggs ; a cupful of boiling water ; juice and a teaspoonful of grated 
orange peel. 

Heat the water in a sauce-pan, add sugar, butter and corn-starch, 
and when thick, the orange juice and peel; finally, the beaten 
eggs ; cook two minutes. 


No. 12. 

BREAKFAST. 

Oatmeal Porridge. Baked Fish Cake. 

Scrambled Eggs. Com Cakes. 


Emit. 


Tea. 


Coffee. 


Baked Fish Cake. 

Two pounds of cold, boiled fresh cod or halibut; a cup of 
mashed potatoes ; half a cup of bread-crumbs; a cupful of drawn 
butter, in which has been stirred a teaspoonful of anchovy paste; a 
tablespoonful of finely cut parsley, and half as much minced onion ; 
a raw egg, butter, salt and pepper. Mix the fish, “ picked ” evenly, 
with herbs, potato and drawn butter; season; put into a buttered 
bake-dish and set in the oven, covered, fifteen minutes; sift the 




SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


305 


crumbs on top; stick bits of butter in them, and brown quickly. 
Wash over with beaten egg, shut the oven for a minute, and serve 
the cake in the bake-dish. 


Scrambled Eggs. 

Put a tablespoonful of butter, a gill of milk, a saltspoonful of 
salt, half as much pepper, and a tablespoonfnl of minced parsley in 
a frying-pan. When the mixture boils, break and stir into it eight 
or ten eggs. Beat and stir until they are well mixed, and cease to 
run over the pan. Line a dish with crustless toast dipped in hot 
milk, salted, peppered and buttered, and pour the eggs on this bed. 


Corn Cakes. 

Three even cupfuls of white Indian meal; two cups of sour or 
buttermilk ; one heaping tablespoonfnl of lard ; one tablespoonful 
of sugar; two tablespoonfnls of flour; one teaspoonful of soda; 
three eggs well beaten; a cup of boiling water. 

Sift meal, flour, salt and soda together three times into a bowl; 
mix sugar and lard in the boiling water, add the milk ; make a hole 
in the meal and flour, and put this in, stirring down quickly. Now, 
add the beaten eggs, and whip upward hard, until you have a 
smooth, light batter. Bake in greased pate pans at once. Eat hot. 


LUNCHEON. 

Steamed Clams. String Bean Salad. 

Cold Meat garnished with Parsley. 

Bread, Butter, Crackers. Fried Bananas. 

Cocatina and Macaroons. 





3o6 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Steamed Clams. 

Put the clams, without removing the shells, in your steamer, 
laying them flat, that the juice may not escape; set the steamer 
over a pot of boiling water shut up tightly, and keep this at a hard 
boil, but not touching the clams, half an hour. Peep in then to see 
if the shells have opened. If not, close down the top for ten min¬ 
utes more; take out the clams, pry off the upper shells, and arrange 
the lower (holding the clams) on a flat dish. Lay on each, a sauce 
made by whipping a tablespoonful or more of butter to a cream 
with the juice of a lemon, a little chopped parsley, salt, and a touch 
of cayenne. Eat hot, with warmed crackers. 


String Bean Salad. 

Take a cup of cold, boiled string beans, and if they have not 
been cut into inch-lengths before they were cooked, do it now; heap 
on a flat dish ; encircle with a row of cold boiled beet slices; on 
each one of these lay a slice of hard-boiled egg ; garnish with crisp 
lettuce leaves as a frill and send around mayonnaise dressing with 
it. This will make a pretty and palatable dish. 


Fried Bananas. 

Pare a dozen bananas and cut each lengthwise into three slices; 
have ready a batter made by beating two eggs light with half a 
cupful of milk and four tablespoonfuls of prepared flour, slightly 
salted ; dip the banana slices into this and fry in boiling lard to a 
golden brown. Drain off the grease and serve on a hot dish lined 
with white paper. 




SPRING BIRLS OF FARE. 

DINNER. 


307 


Chicken Bisque. Brisket of Beef a la mode. 

Stewed Corn. Lima Beans. 

Browned Sweet Potatoes. Batter Pudding. 

Cream Sauce. 


Chicken Bisque. 

I 

An old fowl; a cupful of cracker crumbs; a quarter pound of 
almonds, blanched and dried to crispness ; a large tablespoonful of 
minced onion, and the same of parsley ; a cup of hot milk ; four 
quarts of cold water ; pepper and salt; two raw eggs, beaten light. 

Clean and boil the fowl slowly in the water, until the flesh slips 
from the bones ; salt and pepper it, and set away in the liquor until 
next day. Skim it, then, and taking out the fowl, bone and mince 
the flesh fine. Shred the almonds into minute shavings, mix with 
the chopped meat, onions and parsley, and put all into the broth 
when you have strained it into a pot. Simmer gently half an hour, 
taking care it does not scorch; add the cracker crumbs, then, the 
beaten eggs when you have stirred them into the hot milk. Take 
from the fire, and set in boiling water five minutes, covered, before 
turning into the tureen. 

Brisket of Beef a la mode. 

Take out the bones with a sharp knife, and bind the beef into 
shape with broad tapes. Alake incisions quite through the meat 
perpendicularly, and thrust into them lardoons of fat salt pork. 
The holes should be less than an inch apart. Lay in a broad pot, 
put in two cupfuls of warm—not hot—water, fit on a tight lid, and 
cook slowly twenty minutes to the pound. Take up the meat, and 




3o8 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


lay in the dripping pan. Cover the top an inch thick with a force¬ 
meat of crumbs, fat salt pork, a dozen finely-minced oysters, a tea¬ 
spoonful of chopped onion, and pepper to taste ; set in the oven long 
enough to brown nicely. Meanwhile, cool and skim and strain the 
gravy ; return to the fire in a saucepan, thicken with browned flour; 
add a glass of wine, and a teaspoonful of French mustard, boil up 
once and serve in a boat. 


Stewed Corn. 

I 

Open and turn out a can of corn three hours before using, drain 
off the liquor and set the com in a cold place. Half an hour before 
dinner, put a cup of boiling water in one of milk in a saucepan; 
drop in a bit of soda; add the com and cook gently half an hour. 
Salt and pepper to taste, stir in a tablespoonful of butter, rolled in 
one of flour, boil up once and serve. 


Lima Beans. 

Canned Lima Beans are heated in the same way as com, only 
leaving out the milk and flour. They should be drained also before 
the butter is stirred in. 


Browned Sweet Potatoes. 

They are getting soft and watery at this season. Boil them fifteen 
minutes, peel, and lay in the oven to bake, basting them with but¬ 
ter until they are of a fine brown. 


Batter Pudding. 

Two cups of Hecker’s prepared flour ; three cups of milk; four 
eggs ; a quarterspoonful of salt; one tablespoonful each of lard and 






SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


309 


butter. Chop the shortening into the flour with the salt until 
thoroughly mixed. Beat the eggs very light, add the milk to them, 
beat in the flour by the handful; pour into a cake-mold with a 
funnel in the middle and bake in a quick oven. 


Cream Sauce. 

One cup of sugar ; one cup of milk ; whites of two eggs, beaten 
to a meringue ; one tablespoonful of butter cut up in two teaspoon¬ 
fuls of corn-starch; vanilla seasoning. Heat the milk to boiling, 
stir in sugar and floured butter. Boil up sharply, withdraw from 
the fire and beat in meringue and flavoring. 


No. 13. 

BREAKFAST. 

Mush and Milk. Oyster Omelette. 

Waffles. Stewed Potatoes. 

Fruit. Coffee. Tea. 


Mush and AIilk. 

One cup of Indian meal, scalded with two cups of boiling water; 
one quart and a pint of boiling water ; two teaspoonfuls of salt; 
stir the scalded meal into the boiling salted water, and cook in a 
farina kettle for at least an hour. You cannot cook much too long ; 
now and then beat up from the bottom and work out the clots. Serve 
in an open dish. Eat with milk and cream. 


Oyster Omelette. 

Six eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately; one tablespoonful 
of cream; a half teaspoonful of corn-starch wet with the cream; a salt 








310 HOUSE AND HOME. 

spoonful of salt and a “ dust ” of pepper; a dozen fine oysters, 
broiled. 

Beat yolks well, adding the cream and corn-starch, stir in the 
stiffened whites lightly, have ready a tablespoonful of butter in a 
frying pan hissing hot, but not browned. Pour in the omelette, and 
as soon as it sets at the edges, loosen with a knife, and shake gently 
with a uniform motion from side to side, until the center is almost 
“ set.” The oysters should have been broiled before you began the 
omelette. To do this, roll them in fine cracker dust, salted and 
peppered, broil quickly over a clear fire, transfer to a hot dish, put a 
bit of butter on each, cover and keep hot while the omelette is cook¬ 
ing. When this is done, line one half of it, as it lies in the pan, 
with the oysters, fold the other over it dexterously and reverse the 
frying-pan quickly upon the heated dish in which it is to be served. 


Waffles. 

Three scant cups of milk; two eggs; three cups of prepared 
flour; one heaping tablespoonful of butter, just melted ; half a tea¬ 
spoonful of salt; one tablespoonful of sugar. 

Beat the eggs very light, cream butter and sugar, and put them 
in. Add the milk, then salted flour. Mix thoroughly, and bake in 
well greased wafide-irons. Try a spoonful of batter first to test it 
and them. 


Stewed Potatoes. 

Peel, and cut in square bits, dropping these in cold water as you 
go on. Cook tender in boiling, salted water. Turn off half of this 
when they are nearly done, and replace with a like quantity of hot 




SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


311 

milk in wliicli has been dissolved a tablespoonful of butter cut up 
in flour. Simmer three or four minutes, pepper, salt, and stir in 
a teaspoonful of finely cut parsley. Boil up and dish. 


LUNCHEON. 

Rechauffe of Fish. Tomato Toast. 

Bread and Butter. Crackers and Cheese. Rusk. 

Jam or Marrualade. 


Rechauffe of Fish. 

Pick cold boiled cod or halibut into even small flakes ; put into a 
frying-pan a cup of boiling water (for a heaping cupful of fish), 
season well with pepper and salt, stir in a tablespoonful of butter 
cut up in a great spoonful of flour. As it simmers, add the fish, 
toss and turn with a fork, and when smoking hot, put in three table¬ 
spoonfuls of cream. It should be just stiff enough to be mounded 
in the middle of a platter. Have ready the beaten whites of two 
eggs; spread quickly on the mound and set the dish in a hot oven 
long enough to cook the meringue. Garnish with lemons, cut 
lengthwise into eighths. 

Tomato Toast. 

Stew a quart of ripe tomatoes ten minutes, and run through a 
colander. Season with pepper, salt, a little sugar, and two teaspoon¬ 
fuls of butter, and simmer to a smooth soft pulp. Another ten 
minutes is enough. In another vessel scald half a cup of hot milk 
with a bit of soda half the size of a pea dissolved in it, stir in a tea- 
spoonful of butter, add to the tomatoes, and pour at ojtce over slices 
of crustless toast buttered well, and laid on a heated platter. Let 





312 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


it stand three minutes before serving. It will be a pleasing com¬ 
panion dish to the fish. 

Crackers and Cheese. 

Alake an intermediate course of these, heating the crackers 
slightly, and serving in a basket lined with a napkin. With olives, 
they make an agreeable entr'acte^ and add elegance to a plain 
luncheon. 


Rusk. 

» 

Four cups of milk; four tablespoonfuls of yeast; about three 
cups of flour ; one cup of butter; two cups of sugar ; three eggs ; 
a very little cinnamon. 

Make flour, milk and yeast into a sponge, and let it rise over 
night. In the morning, work in more flour (if needed to make a 
soft dough), add the eggs, spice and butter and sugar; (creamed) 
knead for five minutes, and let it rise for four hours longer. Break 
off bits, and round, with floured hand, into small biscuits; lay 
closely together in a baking pan and set for a third rising of half an 
hour, or until they are light. Bake in a moderate oven, covering 
with paper should they brown too fast. When quite done, wash the 
tops lightly with butter and sugar to glaze them. Serve fresh, but 
not hot, and pass jam or marmalade, and if you can get it, iced milk 
with them. 


DINNER. 

Black Bean Soup. Fried Shad with Sauce Piquante. 

Beefsteak and Onions. Beets. 

Spinach on Toast. Rice Cream. Brandied Peaches. 

Eight Cakes. Fruit. Coffee. 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 
Black Bean Soup. 


313 


Four cups of black, or purple, or “ mock-turtle soup ” beans ; 
two quarts of stock, iu wliicb corned liam, or fat salt pork, or corned 
beef has been cooked ; one onion, chopped ; four tablespoonfuls of 
chopped celery; one great spoonful of butter rubbed iu one of flour; 
pepper; one teaspoonful of sugar. 

Soak the beans twelve hours. Skim and strain the stock, and 
put it cold at the back of the range, with the beans, onion and 
celery. Give it plenty of time to eook, and for two hours, do not 
let it boil. After that, take care it does not burn. When the beans 
are broken to pieces, turn the contents of the pot into a colander, 
set over a kettle and rub the beans through iuto the liquor below. 
Return to the fire, stir in the pepper, sugar and floured butter, and 
simmer fifteen minutes. Have ready dice of bread, fried crisp, 
and slices of peeled lemon to lay on the surface of the soup in the 
tureen. A little tomato j nice is an improvement. 


Fried Shad with Sauce Piouante. {A handsome dish .) 

Split the fish as for broiling, and, with a sharp knife, divide it 
into pieces nearly as wide as your hand. Roll these in beaten yolk 
of egg, when you have salted and peppered each,—then, in finely- 
powdered craeker, also salted and peppered,—and set them on the 
ice for three or four hours. Fry them in deep fat to a yellow-brown, 
drain off every drop of grease, and lay lengthwise on a hot fish-dish. 

To make the sauee, beat up three tablespoonfuls of butter to a 
'cream, with three tablespoonfuls of lemon juice (strained), mix in, 
at the last, the same quantity of finely-minced parsley, beating all 
together until the sauce is green. Have ready eight half lemons, 



3^4 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


emptied of pulp and juice ; fill lightly with the sauce and lay about 
the fish when dished, serving one to each person. 

You can garnish smelts and halibut in the same way. 


Beefsteak and Onions. 

Broil the steak quickly, turning often. Give your whole atten¬ 
tion to a steak while cooking it. Lay on a hot dish, pepper and salt, 
butter lightly, and set, covered, in the plate-warmer. Fry a sliced 
onion three minutes in two tablespoonfuls of butter, not letting it 
scorch. Strain the butter into a hot bowl, stir in the juice of half 
a lemon, and a saltpoonful of made mustard, pour over the steak, 
cover again, and keep hot for five minutes before serving. 


Beets. 

Boil whole, without breaking the skin. Old beets need at least 
three hours of cooking to be eatable. Scrape, and slice into a deep 
dish ; pour over them three tablespoonfuls of vinegar scalded with 
two tablespoonfuls of butter. 


Spinach on Toast. 

Wash and pick the leaves from the stalks; boil for twenty min¬ 
utes in hot, salted water, drain dry, rub through a colander into a 
saucepan; heat, and add a liberal tablespoonfnl of butter, a tea¬ 
spoonful of sugar, pepper and salt to taste, and a pinch of nutmeg. 
Beat until it bubbles all over, put in two tablespoonfuls of cream, 
heat again, and heap on squares or rounds of buttered toast, a slice 
of boiled egg on each hillock. 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 
Rice Cream. 


315 


One cup of rice boiled soft, but uot to a paste; two cups of 
milk; four eggs; a cup of sugar; vanilla extract; a cup of 
whipped cream. 

Make the eggs, milk and sugar into a custard, season with 
vanilla. Scald the milk first, pour this upon the beaten eggs and 
sugar, and cook until it thickens well. While still hot, beat in the 
rice, season with vanilla, and let it get cold before you beat 
in the whipped cream. Set it to form iu a wet mold on ice. When 
you are ready for it, turn out on a glass dish. Pass brandied peaches 
and light cake with it. 


No 14.. 
BREAKFAST. 


Oatmeal Porridge (cold). 
Stewed Potatoes. 

Fruit. Tea. 


Liver and Bacon. 
Cornmeal Muffins. 
Coffee. 


Oatmeal Porridge (Cold). 

Soak a cupful of oatmeal five or six hours in cold water. Drain, 
and put it over the fire with a quart of warm water salted 
slightly ; cook, stirring often, and adding boiling water if it stiffens 
unduly, for at least an hour. Turn out into small enps or tumblers, 
each holding a “ help ” for a single person. Next morning, empty 
these carefully upon a flat dish; serve in saucers and eat with sugar 
and cream. 




3i6 


• HOUSE AND HOME. 


Liver and Bacon. 

Slice tile liver, and lay it in cold salt-and-water for half an hour, 
while you fry slices of breakfast-bacon in a clean frying-pan until 
they are clear and somewhat crisp. Take those out and keep hot 
over boiling water. Wipe the liver dry, pepper and salt each piece, 
and roll in flour, then fry to a fine brown in the fat left by the 
bacon. Shake off the grease when all are done, lay in neat order 
on a hot platter and dispose the bacon, garnish-wise, about it. Some 
like the flavor imparted by frying a little sliced onion in the fat 
with the liver. 


CoRNMEAL Muffins. 

Two cups of cornmeal; one cup of flour; two eggs ; two cups 
of milk, and three of boiling water; half a yeast cake, or three 
tablespoonfuls of yeast; a tablespoonful of melted lard ; a heaping 
teaspoonful of salt; a tablespoonful of sugar. Scald the meal with 
the boiling water, and let it cool, before mixing in the melted lard, 
milk, beaten eggs, sugar, yeast and flour. Beat up hard, and set 
it to rise over night. In the morning, half-fill muffin-tins with the 

batter, let them stand in a warm place for fifteen minutes, and bake 
in a steady oven. 


LUNCHEON. 

Baked Omelette with Herbs. 

Cabbage Salad, with Boiled Dressing. 

Bread. Butter. Cheese. Olives.. 


Farina Blanc-Mange. 




SPRING BILLS OP" FARE. 


3 G 


Baked Omelette, with Herbs. 

Beat tlie yolks of six eggs liglit, stir in with them three table¬ 
spoonfuls of milk, in which has been rubbed smooth a quarter-tea- 
spoonful of arrowroot. Have an assistant prepare, meanwhile, a 
pudding or pie-dish by melting in it a tablespoonful of butter beaten 
to a cream, with a tablespoonful of minced parsley, tender celery- 
tops and a slice of onion. All mnst be finely chopped. Pepper and 
salt them lightly. Froth your whites, set your bake-dish in the 
oven until the butter hisses ; mix yolks and whites with a swift 
whirl of the “ Doverpour the omelette into the dish, and shut up 
promptly in a brisk oven. As soon as it is high, and the middle 
“ set,” pass a knife around the edge, and turn out on a hot-water 
dish. Serve and eat at once. 

Cabbage Salad, with Boiled Dressing. 

Shred the heart of a white cabbage fine with a sharp knife—a 
chopper bruises it. Heat in a saucepan a cup of vinegar, a table¬ 
spoonful of butter, one of sugar, half a teaspoonful of made must¬ 
ard, a saltspoonful of salt and the same of pepper. In a second 
vessel, heat two-thirds of a cupful of milk ; stir into it two beaten 
eggs, and cook until they begin to thicken. When the vinegar 
bolis, pour it upon the shred cabbage ; put all back into the sauce¬ 
pan, stir one minute with a silver or wooden fork, add the boiled 
milk and eggs, toss and stir well, turn into a covered bowl, and set 
where it will cool suddenly. Serve in a glass dish. 


Farina Blanc Mange. 

One quart of milk; two eggs ; half a cupful of sugar. 

Four tablespoonfuls of farina soaked for two hours in enough 
cold water to cover it. Half a saltspoonful of salt. Two teaspoon¬ 
fuls of vanilla essence or rose water. 




HOUSE AND HOME. 


318 

Heat the milk, salt and sugar it, and add the soaked farina. 
Stir and cook for half an hour, pour it upon the beaten eggs, beat 
all well, return to the farina kettle and cook five minutes, stirring 
faithfully to prevent lumping. Take from the fire, add the flavoring 
and set to form in a mold wet with cold water. Eat with cream and 
sugar, or custard. 

DINNER. 

Canned Pea Soup. Stuffed Halibut. 

Curried Chicken. Rice. Bananas. Kidney Beans. 

Cocoanut Custard and Sponge Cake. 

Fruit. Coffee. 


Canned Pea Soup {Without Meat). 

Open a can of American peas, drain- and lay them in cold, salt 
water for half an hour. Boil them soft in three pints of hot salted 
water, with a slice of onion and a stalk of celery. A sprig of 
green mint improves the flavor. When broken to pieces, rub them, 
with the water in which they were cooked, through a colander ; put 
over the fire and bring to a boil. Add two heaping tablespoonfuls 
of butter rolled in three of flour, half a cupful of hot milk, a small 
teaspoonful of sugar; salt and pepper to your taste (which may 
not be mine or your neighbor’s). Simmer and stir for five minutes, 
and turn into a tureen in which is a handful of fried bread-dice. 


Stuffed Halibut. 

Buy a thick piece of halibut, weighing five or six pounds, and 
let it lie in salt-and-water for two hours. Wipe it, pass a sharp 
knife down to the bone in several places, and thrust into the cuts a 





SPRING BILLS OF FARE. 


319 


forcemeat of crumbs, pork minced fine, pepper and salt. Lay in a 
dripping pan and cook in a good oven, basting for the first half-hour 
with butter-and-water, afterward with its own gravy. Five pounds 
should be baked in about an hour. Take up the fish, and keep hot. 
Add to the strained gravy from the dripping pan, the juice of a 
lemon, a teaspoonful of anchovy paste, a tablespoonful of butter 
rubbed into two of browmed flour (more boiling water if needed) — 
boil up once and pour a little over the fish, the rest into a sauce¬ 
boat. 


Curried Chicken. 

Clean and joint as for fricassee, cover with cold, weak broth, and 
stew slowly until tender. If you have no broth, chop a quarter 
pound of fat salt pork fine and cook with a little onion in three cups 
of water, until you have a pint of liquid. Strain and cool, before 
pouring over the jointed fowl. Ten minutes before taking it up, 
stir in a tablespoonful of good curry-powder, wet in cold water, and 
simmer gently. Lay the chicken on a hot dish and pour the gravy 
upon it. 

Rice. 

Cook a cupful of raw rice in a generous quart of boiling w^ater, 
without stirring, until tender, shaking up the saucepan vigorously 
several times. Drain off the water, salt the rice, and let it dry 
at the back of the range before dishing it. Give a portion of rice 
with each “ help ” of chicken, pouring the curry gravy on it. 


Bananas. 

The East Indian fashion of passing cool bananas with curried 
meat is pleasant, if it seems odd to us. They are a grateful adjunct, 
especially to palates unused to the pungent condiment. 





320 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Kidney Beans. 

Soak a pint of beans over niglit in cold water. In the morning 
exchange this for tepid, and, two hours and a-half before dinner¬ 
time, put them over the fire in plenty of cold water and cook slowly 
until the skins begin to break. Turn off all the water, put a clean 
cloth on the beans left in the saucepan, and set at the side of the 
range to keep hot until yon are ready to serve them. Put into a 
deep dish, pepper and salt, stir in a tablespoonful of butter, and 
send to table. 


CocoANUT Custard. 

Heat a quart of milk in a farina kettle. Beat the yolks of five 
eggs and the whites of two, light; add five tablespoonfuls of sugar, 
and pour upon these scalding milk, stirring as yon do so. Set over 
the fire again, and stir twelve or fifteen minutes, or until the custard 
begins to thicken. Have ready in a bowl, one-half of a grated 
cocoanut, and pour the thickening custard upon it, stirring them up 
together. Flavor, when cold, with rose-water or .bitter almond : put 
into a glass dish and lay carefully on it the other half of the grated 
cocoanut. On this spread a meringue of the frothed whites of three 
eggs mixed with two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Eat with 
sponge cake. 





Summer Bills of Fare. 

No. 15. 

BREAKFAST. 

Oatmeal Porridge. Mince of Ham and Eggs. 

French Rolls. 

Baked Potatoes. Berries. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Mince of Ham and Eggs. 

Chop the remnants of a ham which will no longer furnish slices 
for the table, put into a frying-pan a tablespoonful of butter rolled 
in browned flour, a teaspoonful of vinegar, a little pepper and a 
quarter teaspoonful of mustard. Let it boil, and put in the minced 
ham. Stir until very hot, turn into a pie-dish, set in the oven, and 
break on the surface five or six raw eggs. Shut up in the oven and 
bake for five minutes, just long enough to “ set ” the eggs. Serve 
in the pie dish. 


French Rolls. 

One quart of flour, sifted with a saltspoonful of salt and a tea- 
spoonful of sugar; two cups of milk; half-cake of compressed 
yeast; two eggs; one tablespoonful of melted butter. 


321 









322 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Chop the butter into the flour, whip the eggs light, mix with 
the milk and, making a hole in the flour, pour in the milk, working 
down the flour from the sides until you have dough. Now, add the 
yeast cake, dissolved in three tablespooufuls of warm w'ater, work 
briskly and lightly, put in the butter, transfer from the bowl to a 
floured pastry board and knead for ten minutes, still handling it 
briskl3^ Let it rise over night. In the morning, mold with your 
hands into round or oval rolls, set in a floured pan just near enough 
together to touch, cover with a clean cloth, and let them rise for 
half an hour. Gash each across the top with a knife before they^go 
into the oven. Bake from forty to forty-five minutes. 


LUNCHEON. 

Deviled Crabs. Cold Welsh Rarebit. 

Bread. Crackers. Olives. 

A Sweet Omelette. Iced Tea. 


Deviled Crabs. 

Pick the meat from the shells of cold boiled crabs, cut it fine, 
mix with it a tablespoonful of cracker-crumbs for every five spoon¬ 
fuls of the meat, the juice and a pinch of the grated peel of a 
lemon, a quarter teaspoonful of made .mustard, a pinch of cayenne 
pepper, and a quarter teaspoonful of salt. Melt two tablespoonfuls 
of butter in a saucepan, add the crab mixture and toss about with a 
silver fork until very hot. Fill the back shells of the crab with 
this, .stick tiny bits of butter on top, sift fine crumbs over all, and 
cook to a light-brown in a quick oven. Pretty and inexpensive 
dishes of colored china, imitating the shells and claws of crabs, in 




SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


323 


which deviled and 
crockery dealers, 
dish. 


scalloped crabs may be baked, are for sale by 
Serve hot. Pass lemon and crackers with this 


Cold Welsh R.\rebit. 

Spread thin slices of bread with a mixture of a cupful of dry 
grated cheese worked to a creamy paste with half a teaspoonful of 
made mustard, a pinch of cayenne, a quarter teaspoonful of salt, a 
tablespoonful of cream, and a generous tablespoonful of butter. 
Cut each slice in half and fold upon itself, the mixture inside. Pare 
the crust from the bread before spreading it. 


A Sweet Omelette. 

Beat seven eggs to a froth, whipping in, at the last, a table¬ 
spoonful of powdered sugar. Heat a tablespoonful of butter in a 
frying pan, pour in the eggs, and shake with an easy, regular 
motion, always in the same direction—from side to side, or to, and 
from you—until the omelette is “ set,” and begins to curl over at 
the edges in the line of the motion. Draw to the side of the stove, 
cover quickly with currant or other jelly, and roll up as you would 
a sheet of paper, inclosing the jell3^ Lay on a hot dish, sift pow¬ 
dered sugar over the roll, and serve immediately. 


Iced Tea. 

Make in the usual way; do not let it get cold on the leaves, but 
strain it off at the end of ten minutes after the boiling w^ater is 
poured on, and set aside to cool. In using it, put two or three 
lumps of sugar in a glass; half fill it with broken ice, pour in the 
tea and stir rapidly until the sugar melts. It is a delicious and 
refreshing beverage. 





324 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


DINNER. 

Mock Turtle Soup. 

Fried Whitefisk. Fresk Beef’s Tongue au gratin. 

String Beans. Potatoes au Geneve. 

Corn Starck Custard. Pineapple Sliced, witk Wine* 

Coffee. 


Mock Turtle Soup. 

A calf’s kead dressed witk tke skin on; four quarts of cold 
water; four tablespoonfuls of butter, and twice as muck browned 
flour; kalf a can of tomatoes, strained througk a sieve; juice of a 
lemon, and one sliced lemon ; a teacupful of browm skerry ; ^ pepper 
and salt to taste ; a tablespoonful of allspice, powdered; a raw egg. 
Boil tke kead slowly for four kours and let it get cold in tke liquor. 
Take it out and cut tke flesk from tke bones. Set aside tke flesky 
parts of tke ckeek witk tke tongue, to be cut into dice, and divide 
tke rest into two parts wken you kave ckopped it flne. Return 
one-kalf to tke skimmed liquor witk tke bones, and set it where it 
will keat slowly. Make tke other into forcemeat witk tke brain, 
binding it witk a beaten egg, and seasoning well. Roll into balls 
witk floured hands ; set in a quick oven to harden, and, wken a firm 
coat forms on tke outside, take them out and set them away to 
cool. Rub tke tomatoes through a sieve. Wken tke soup has 
cooked for one hour, strain out bones and meat; put back over the 
fire witk tke tomatoes, aud while it heats, make a “ roux ” in tke 
frying-pan of tke butter and flour, stirring to a smooth, brown, oil¬ 
like mixture, then thinning witk a few spoonfuls from the soup- 
kettle. Add tke spice, pepper and salt, and stir all into tke soup. 
Cook a few minutes at a sharp boil, put in tke meat-dice and lemon. 



SUM]\IER BILLS OF FARE. 


325 


Ten minutes later, drop in the balls, after which the soup should 
not boil. The wine goes in just before the soup is poured into the 
tureen. The yolks of six hard-boiled eggs are an improvement. 

Much of the excellence of this most popular of soups depends 
on the seasoning. If this is judiciously done, obedience to the 
directions given will result in success--and delight. It is even 
better the second day than the first. 


Fried Whitefish. 

Clean, without splitting, salt and pepper them, roll in cornmeal 
or flour, and fry in cleared dripping or in sweet lard. Drain off the 
fat and serve on a hot dish. 


Fresh Beef’s Tongue au gratin . 

Boil for an hour, lay on a dish and skin with a sharp knife. 
Rub, while hot, with butter beaten to a cream with a little lemon 
juice, salt and pepper ; put into a dripping pan, sift fine crumbs all 
over it thickly, pour a few spoonfuls of hot soup-stock into the pan to 
prevent burning, and bake for half an hour, wetting carefully, 
several times with the gravy from the pan. For sauce, add a table¬ 
spoonful of browned flour rubbed up with the liquor in which the 
tongue was cooked, to that left in the dripping pan, pepper and salt 
to taste; boil one minute, and pour into a gravy boat. 


String Beans. 

String them on both sides with a sharp knife, cut into inch- 
lengths, and cook tender in hot salted water. The time will depend 
on the age and size ; drain well, stir butter, pepper and salt through 
them, and dish. 





326 


HOUSE AND HOME. 
Potatoes au Geneve. 


Boil and mash a dozen potatoes, making them soft with milk 
and butter, heap on a pie-plate in a smooth mound, scoop out a 
cupful from the center of the heap, leaving a conical cavity; glaze 
the inside of this, and the outside of the mound with white of egg, 
and set in a quick oven to harden the glaze. Meanwhile, beat into 
a small cupful of melted butter four tablespoonfuls of grated cheese, 
the whipped yolks of two eggs, salt and pepper to taste. Heat and 
stir, and when thick and hot, pour into the crater of the mound. 
Sift fine crumbs upon the sauce; set in the oven to brown slightly 
and send to table. 


Corn Starch Custard. 

One quart of milk; four eggs; three tablespoonfuls of com. 
starch; five tablespoonfuls of sugar; a tablespoonful of butter; a 
little salt and nutmeg. 

Scald the milk, wet up the com starch with cold milk, salt it, 
and stir into the boiling, until it is thick and free from lumps. 
Take it off, beat in the butter and let it get almost cold before 
whipping in the frothed eggs, the sugar and spice. Beat well and 
long, turn into a buttered pudding-dish, bake to a yellow-brown; 
sift sugar over it when perfectly cold, and eat with cream, or with 
brandied peaches. 


Pineapple sliced, with Wine. 

Pare and cut the fruit into dice, put a layer in a glass dish, 
sugar well, and wet with a few spoonfuls of sherry ; more fruit, 
more sugar and wine, until the dish is full. Strew sugar over the 
top, set on ice and eat within an hour after the dish is prepared, as 
the wine toughens the fniit. 




SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 

No. 16. 
BREAKFAST. 


327 


Hominy. Stewed Eels a la Francaise. 

Farina Wajffles. Savory Potatoes. 

Berries. Coffee. Frothed Chocolate. 


Stewed Eels a la Francaise. 

Clean, skin and cut the eels into pieces two inches long, lay in a 
saucepan with a little minced parsley, a sprig of thyme, a teaspoon¬ 
ful of minced onion, a tablespoonful of butter, the juice of half a 
lemon, pepper, salt and just enough boiling water to cover them. 
Cook gently until tender; take up the fish with a perforated spoon, 
keep hot on a chafing dish while you strain the gravy, thicken it 
with flour aud boil it three minutes. Beat up two eggs, stir into 
the sauce quickly, and remove from the Are before they curdle. 
Pour over the eels, and serve. 

Farina Waffles. 

One cup cold, boiled farina; half-cup of prepared flour; one 
pint of milk; two eggs ; one tablespoonful of lard ; salt. 

Rub the farina smooth with the melted lard, work in milk and 
salt, beat hard before adding the flour and eggs, and afterward. The 
batter should be light and lumpless. Bake in greased wafile-irons. 


Savory Potatoes. 

Mince a quarter pound of fat salt pork; add a teaspoonful of 
chopped onion, and a tablespoonful of minced parsley, eight pota¬ 
toes, peeled and quartered; cover with cold water, and cook until 
the potatoes are done. Drain, mash, mound on a pie plate, sift 
crumbs over them and brown in the oven. 





328 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Frothed Chocoeate. 

Make in the usual way, turn into a hot bowl, and with a 
“ Dover ” egg-beater, whisk in the frothed whites of three eggs. 
Pour into the heated chocolate pot, and it is ready for use. 


LUNCHEON. 

Mince of Chicken and Eggs. Shrimp Salad. 

Thin Bread and Butter. Crackers. 

Cheese. Olives. Huckleberry Cake. 


Mince of Chicken and Eggs. 

Chop cold boiled or roasted fowl; mix up with a cupful of drawn 
butter, season with pepper, salt, a pinch of nutmeg, and pour into a 
bake-dish. Set in the oven until a skin forms on top, and the sur¬ 
face shakes with the ebullition of the heated heart. Day as many 
poached eggs on top as will lie easily in the dish, and serve. 


Shrimp Salad. 

Open a can of shrimps some hours before you want to use them, 
and turn upon a dish. Set on ice until needed. Line a salad bowl 
or a broad salver with leaves of cool, crisp lettuce ; lay the shrimps 
on them, and pour mayonnaise dressing on the fish, or send it 
around with the salad. A popular dish in hot weather. 


Thin Bread and Butter. 

Cut fresh Graham bread thin, when yon have buttered the end 
of the loaf before cutting each slice ; pare off the crust, and pile 
on a folded napkin in a plate. 






SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


329 


Huckleberry Cake- 

Two cups of sugar; one cup of butter; three cups of Hecker’s 
prepared flour; one cup of milk; five eggs ; one teaspoonful of 
nutmeg, and one of cinnamon; one quart of huckleberries. 

Cream butter and sngar; beat in the whipped yolks, the spice, 
milk, flour, the frothed whites, finally, the berries, dredged whitely 
with flour, breaking them as little as possible. Bake in shallow 
tins or in pate-pans. It is better the second day after it is baked. 


DINNER. 

Tomato Sonp. Lobster Pates. 

Beef Roast ^ 1 ^ Orleans. New Potatoes. Young Onions. 

Banana Ice Cream. Cake. Coffee. 


Tomato Soup. 

Two quarts of tomatoes, peeled and sliced ; three pints of broth— 
veal or chicken is best; one tablespoonful of minced parsley, and 
the same quantity of minced onion ; one teaspoonful of sugar; pep¬ 
per and salt to taste ; browned flour thickening ; a tablespoonful of 
butter; fried bread dice. 

Stew the tomatoes in the broth until they are broken all to pieces, 
add herbs and onion, stew twenty minutes, rub through a colander, 
season, thicken with a tablespoonful of browned flour, rubbed in one 
of butter; boil two minutes, and pour upon the fried bread in the 
tureen. 


Lobster Pates. 

Meat of one large lobster, or two small ones ; two cups of veal 
broth; two tablespoonfuls of butter; beaten yolks of two eggs; 





330 


HOUSE AND HOAIE. 


juice of a lemon; one lieaping tablespoouful of flour rubbed up 
with the butter ; salt and cayenne to liking ; puff paste for shell. 

Heat the broth to a boil, skim, and stir in the buttered flour; 
put in the lemon-juice and seasoning, the beaten yolks, the lobster, 
cut up small, and set in boiling water over the fire ten minutes, 
stirring now and then. Have ready pate-pans lined with pastry, 
baked in a brisk oven, slip out the “ shells,” fill with the hot lobster 
mixture, set in the oven three minutes, and serve. If you do not 
care to take the trouble of pastry-making in hot weather, buy 
empty pate-shells from a pastry cook, heat and fill them with the 
lobster mixture. This is an elegant supper-dish, as well as an 
entree. 


Beef Roast a TOrleans. 

A rolled rib roast is best for this purpose. The night before you 
mean to cook it, put into a broad pan three tablespoonfuls of salad 
oil, four tablespoonfuls of chopped onion, a dozen whole pepper¬ 
corns, and the juice of a large lemon. Lay the roast in this, and at 
the end of two hours, turn it over, anointing the edges well with the 
sauce. In the morning, turn it again. When ready to cook it, put 
into the dripping-pan, dash a cupful of boiling water over the top, 
and as it heats, baste with the sauce in which it has lain over night, 
mingled with hot water and strained. Cook ten minutes to the 
pound, and just before taking it up, baste all over with butter, sift 
flour on the top, and as soon as this froths and browns, transfer the 
meat to a hot dish. Garnish with water-cresses. 


New Potatoes. 

Are so indigestible until fully grown that to advise cooking them 
is like recommending a diet of boiled bullets. When ripe—and 




SUMMER BILES OF FARE. 


331 


not until then —they are a valuable contribution to a Summer bill 
of fare. Rub the skins off with a coarse towel, wash in cold water 
and drop into boiling, a little salted; cook fast for twenty minutes; 
turn off the water, sprinkle with salt and set at the back of the 
range in an uncovered pot to dry off into mealiness. 


Banana Ice-Cream. 

One quart of milk and the same of rich, sweet cream; three 
cups of sugar; six eggs; six large, ripe bananas, peeled and cut 
up small; bit of soda in the milk. 

Heat the milk to scalding ; beat eggs and sugar together, and 
pour the hot milk over them gradually, stirring all the time ; set 
over the fire in a farina kettle, and stir until well-thickened. Let it 
get cold; mix in the cream ; put it into an ice-cream churn, and 
when half frozen, put in the minced banana and freeze hard. 


No. 17. 

BREAKFAST. 

Milk Mush. Tom Thumb Omelettes. 

Buttered Potatoes. Rye Muffins. 

Fruit. Tea. Coffee 


Miek Mush. 

Three cups of hot milk ; one cup of boiling water; one scant 
cup of white Indiau-meal; one even-teaspoonful of salt. 

Scald the salted meal with the boiling water, and stir into the 
hot milk ; boil in a farina-kettle for twenty minutes, stirring all the 
time; beat hard at the last, and serve in an uncovered dish. Eat 
with sugar and cream. 





332 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Tom Thumb Omlettes. 

Eight eggs ; half cup of rich milk ; salt and pepper; a table- 
spooiiful of cheese. 

Beat the eggs light, season, stir in the milk and grated cheese. 
Half fill eight pate-pans, buttered, and set in a dripping pan with half 
an inch of boiling water in it; shut up in a hot oven, and as soon 
as they are “ set,” turn out on a hot dish. You ma}’’ vary the dish 
by substituting minced parsley and thyme for the grated cheese, 
and when dished, pour drawn butter over the omelettes. They 
make a pretty show when garnished with curled parsley, a tiny 
sprig being stuck in the middle of each mold. 


Buttered Potatoes. 

Boil with the skins on; peel carefully; lay in a heated bake- 
dish ; butter plentifully; pepper and salt; cover, and set in the 
oven ten minutes, rolling them over in the melted butter several 
times. Remove with a split spoon to a hot deep dish ; add half a 
cup of hot milk to the butter left in the bake-dish, stir well and 
pour boiling hot over the potatoes. 


Rye Muffins. 

Three cups of rye flour; one cup of Indian-meal; one cup of 
hot water, and three of lukewarm milk; an even tablespoonful of 
sugar and a full one of lard; two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, 
and one of salt sifted three times with flour and meal; three eggs, 
well beaten. 

Sift meal, flour, salt and baking powder three times together in 
a bowl; dissolve lard and sugar in the boiling water ; add the milk 




SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


333 


and wet up the dry mass; lastly, beat in the eggs, whipped to a 
froth; stir hard for one minute and bake in small tins or in muffin 
rings on the griddle. 

LUNCHEON. 

Curried Lobster. 

Pickled Lambs’ Tongues with Mayonnaise. 

Buttered Brown Bread. 

Oatmeal Crackers with Roquefort Cheese. 

Junket and Cake. 


' Curried Lobster. 

Meat of a large lobster, or of two small ones, or the contents of* 
a can of preserved lobster; two tablespoonfuls of butter ; half a cup 
of strained oyster-liquor ; half a glass of wine ; one teaspoonful of 
curry powder; half a cup of raw rice ; salt, and a pinch of grated 
lemon-peel. 

Soak the rice three hours, then salt, and cook it in enough boil¬ 
ing water to cover it well, shaking up from time to time; when 
tender, drain off all the water, and set at the back of the range to 
dry off the rice; dish hot; heat butter and oyster-juice together, 
season with curry and lemon-peel; add the lobster, cut into half-inch 
bits, toss lightly with a silver fork until very hot, put in the wine 
and turn upon a heated dish ; in helping, put a spoonful of rice on 
each plate, another of lobster upon it. 

Pickled Lambs’ Tongues with Mayonnaise. 

Split and lay the tongues in the center of a broad, cool, china 
dish; about them set thickly crisp lettuce leaves ; have in a “fancy 





334 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


bowl or pitcher plenty of mayonnaise dressing. In helping, lay on 
each plate first, a curled leaf of lettuce, within it, half a tongue, and 
pour a generous spoonful of the dressing over both. 


Oatmeal Crackers. 

Two cups of oatmeal, and one of prepared flour; half cup of 
butter chopped up with the meal and flour ; one teaspoonful of salt; 
two cups of cold water. 

Mix into a pretty stiff paste, roll into a thin sheet, cut out as 
you would biscuits, and bake on a griddle, turning when the under¬ 
side is brown; leave them in a cooling open oven all night to dry. 


Junket. 

One quart of lukewarm milk ; one tablespoonful of liquid ren¬ 
net ; half a glass of sherry. 

Stir all well together, and leave in the kitchen, covered to keep 
out dust and flies, until it is like freshly-loppered milk, then set on 
ice until you are ready for it. If left to stand in a warm place too 
long, it will break into curds and whey. Eat with cream and sugar. 
Pass cake with it. 


DINNER. 

Calf’s Feet Soup with Poached Eggs. 

Potted Ducks. Potatoes a la Napolitaine. 

Stuffed Egg Plant, Shrimp and Cheese Salad. 

Charlotte a la Royale. Brandied Peaches. 


Coffee. 





SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 
Calf’s Feet Soup with Poached Eggs. 


335 


'Two pairs of calf’s feet; half an onion, two sprigs of thyme, 
and the same of parsley ; a blade of mace ; salt and pepper; glass 
of sherry ; a slice of lean, corned ham ; three quarts of cold water ; 
six eggs. 

Put feet, herbs, ham, onion and water over the fire, and cook slowl}^ 
until the liquor is reduced to two quarts. Season, and set awa}^ 
with the meat in it. On the morrow, skim, take out the fat and 
strain the broth. Put on the range in a soup-pot, and when hot, 

V 

throw in the white and shell of an egg. Boil slowly five minutes, 
strain through a double bag without pressing, heat again, add the 
wine, and pour into the tureen. Poach six eggs neatly and lay on 
the surface. 


Potted Ducks. 

Clean, wash well, and truss without stuffing, tying down legs 
and wings with tape. Fry half a dozen slices of fat pork crisp in a 
broad-bottomed pot, with half an onion, sliced, and a little powdered 
sage. Lay in the ducks, cover with warm—not hot—water, fit on 
a lid, and cook very slowly and steadily three hours. Take up the 
ducks, undo the tapes, and lay on a hot dish. Strain the gravy, 
thicken with brown flour; boil up sharply, pour a few spoonfuls 
over the fowls, the rest into a gravy-boat. Send around tart jelly 
with them. 


Potatoes a la Napolitaine . 

Peel the potatoes, and lay in cold water for an hour. Cut into 
quarters lengthwise, pack in a bake-dish, salt and pepper them, 
pour in a cup of milk into which yon have dropped a tiny bit of soda; 
strew among the quarters a tablespoonful of butter cut into bits and 




HOUSE AND HOME. 


33^ 

rolled in flour ; also, a little finel3'’-cut parsley. Set in a dripping 
pan of hot water, fit a tight cover on the bake-dish and cook ten¬ 
der, say about forty-five minutes. Serv'^e in the dish. 

Stuffed Egg Plant. 

Parboil for fifteen minutes, if large ; for ten, if small. Make an 
incision in one side, and, inserting your finger, scrape out the 
seeds ; prop open the slit with a stick and lay in ice cold salt and 
water for an hour, then stuff with a paste of bread crumbs, minced 
fat pork, a little parsley, salt, pepper and melted butter ; bind with 
tape and lay in the dripping pan ; pour in a cupful of boiling water, 
and as it bakes, wash over with butter-and-water. When a straw 
will penetrate easily, take up the egg-plant, remove the tape, anoint 
well with butter, strew fine crumbs over it, and set in a tin plate— 
the cut side dowmward—on the top grating of the oven to brown 
lightly. Slice when served, cutting clear through and crosswise. 

Shrimp and Cheese Salad. 

One can of pickled shrimps ; one cupful of dry, grated cheese; 
salt, pepper and vinegar; mayonnaise dressing; lettuce. 

Mince the shrimp rather coarsely, mix with the cheese, wet with 
a little vinegar—two tablespoonfnls should do—in which have been 
stirred a saltspoonful of salt and a pinch of cayenne; mound in 
the center of a dish, surround with crisp lettuce, and send around 
mayonnaise dressing with it. 

Charlotte a la Royale. 

One package of gelatine ; a quart of milk—half cream if you 
can get it; six eggs; a cnp-and-a-half of sugar; a saltspoonful of 
salt; two teaspoonfuls of vanilla extract; a sponge cake sliced, or 
a pound of lady-fingers. 





SUMMER BILES OF FARE. 


337 


Soak the gelatine three hours in a cup of cold water ; heat the 
milk (not forgetting the bit of soda) in a farina-kettle, and when 
hot, stir in the gelatine. When it is quite dissolved, pour on the 
yolks and sugar, beaten light; set in cold water until cool. Beat 
the whites to a stiff froth, add the congealed “ jaune mange,” spoon¬ 
ful by spoonful, beating steadily until you have a light yellow 
sponge, flavoring with vanilla as you work. Line a glass dish with 
cake, put in the sponge, cover with more cake and set on ice until 
needed. Pass brandied peaches with it. 


No. 18. 

BREAKFAST. 

Molded Wheat Germ Meal Porridge. 

Scalloped Codfish, with Cheese. Buttermilk Biscuit. 

Chopped Potatoes. 

Fruit. Tea. Coffee. 


Molded Wheat Germ Meal Porridge. 

Make the porridge as before directed, but over night, and mold 
it in cups wet with cold water. In the morning turn them out, and 
eat with sugar and cream, or with cream only. 


Scalloped Codfish with Cheese. 

Soak a pound of salted codfish six hours in tepid water, then 
boil it. When cold, pick into flakes with a fork and season with 
pepper. Heat a cup of milk to a boil, stir into it a tablespoonful of 
butter rolled in two of prepared flour; mix with the picked fish, and 





33 S 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


pour into a bake dish. Strew grated cheese thickly on top, and 
bake in a quick oven to a delicate brown. It is yet nicer if you add 
a raw egg to the mixture before cooking it. 


Buttermilk Biscuit. 

• 

One quart of flour; one teaspoonful of soda sifted three times 
with the flour, and a teaspoonful of salt; one pint of really sour 
buttermilk; one tablespoonful of melted butter. 

Sift flour, soda and salt into a bowl, stir butter and milk 
together, and pour into a hole in the flour. Mix quickly, and with 
as little handling as possible. Be careful on this point, also, not to 
get the dough too stiff. Have your oven ready and hot. As soon 
as the biscuits are cut out, put them in and bake. They are excel¬ 
lent if mixed—as the successful painter did his colors—“ with 
brains.” A heavy hand and heavy wits can result in nothing but 
sodden solidity. 


Chopped Potatoes. 

Mince cold boiled potatoes coarsely with a sharp chopper, and 
stir with a teaspoonful of finely chopped onion and three times as 
much parsley, into a little hot dripping. Toss until hot all through, 
and dish at once. 


LUNCHEON. 

Pates de Veau. Tomato Salad. 


Chicken Sandwiches. 


Berries and Cream. 


Cocoanut Cake. 


Iced Coffee. 





SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


339 


Pates de Veau. 

Mince one pound of cold roast, or boiled, veal with half as much 
ham. Season sharply with pepper and a pinch of mace. Wet with 
enough gravy, or soup stock to make a soft mince, and stir in a 
tablespoonful of fine crumbs. Line pate-pans with pastry, and 
bake in a brisk oven. Slip from the tins while hot, fill with the hot 
“ mince,” sift crumbs on top, stick a bit of butter in each, and brown 
lightly on the upper grating of the oven. 


Tomato Salad. 

Peel ripe tomatoes with a sharp knife, slice crosswise, lay in a 
salad bowl, and season on the table with salt, a little sugar, pepper, 
oil and vinegar. Keep the tomatoes on ice until actually served. 
They cannot be too cold. Never loosen the skins by pouring boil¬ 
ing water on them, and refrain as scrupulously from serving them 
with the skins on. 


Chicken Sandwiches. 

Pare the crust from thin slices of bread, and cut them into trian¬ 
gles of uniform size. Mince cold chicken freed from skin and fat, 
quite fine, rub in a little butter, season to your liking, and spread 
between every two triangles, pressing the pieces of bread gently 
but firmly on the mixture. Pass with the tomato salad. 


CocoANUT Cake. 

One scant cup of butter; two full cups of sugar; three full cups 
of prepared flour; one scant cup of milk; one half teaspoonful of 
soda, sifted three times with the flour; four eggs ; half of a grated 
cocoanut; juice of half a lemon, and a teaspoonful of grated peel. 




340 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Cream, butter and sugar; beat in tbe lemon juice and peel until 
the mixture is very light. Next, go in the beaten egg-yolks, then 
the milk, stiffened whites and flour alternately ; lastly, the cocoanut. 
Bake in small tins. Eat while fresh, but not warm. 


DINNER. 

Green Pea Soup. Fried Scallops. 

Roast Fowl a la Guyot. Young Onions. 

Mashed Potatoes. Lettuce Salad. Queen of Puddings. 

Coffee. 


Green Pea Soup. 

Two quarts of liquor in which corned beef or mutton has been 
boiled; two quarts of green peas ; bunch of sweet herbs, including 
a shallot or young onion ; one even tablespoonful of prepared flour, 
rubbed up with one of butter; pepper to taste ; dice of fried bread. 

Boil, skim and strain the liquor, and return it to the fire with 
the pea-pods. Cook them twenty minutes, strain them out and put 
in peas and onion. Cook until the peas are soft and broken ; rub 
all through a colander back into the pot, stir in the floured butter ; 
season, boil two minutes, and pour upon the bread in the tureen. 
The advantage of using flour in this receipt is to prevent separa¬ 
tion of the pea-pulp and the liquor. 


Fried Scallops. 

Wipe each, roll in beaten egg, then, in fine crumbs, and fry in 
hot lard or dripping to a fine brown. Shake off the fat in a split 
spoon, and lay in rows on a hot dish. Garnish with parsley. Pass 
hot crackers, mashed potato and cut lemon with them. 





341 


SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 

Roast Fowl a la Guyot . 

One tender, full-grown chicken ; a sweetbread, boiled, blanched 
and minced ; a dozen mushrooms chopped; a tablespoonful of 
minced, fat salt pork ; half a cupful of fine crumbs; slices of fat 
salt pork. 

Draw and truss the fowl as usual, and stuff with a forcemeat, 
made of the minced sweetbread, mushrooms, pork, bread crumbs 
and seasoning. Bind thin slices of pork over the breast, lay in a 
dripping pan,, with a little boiling water and a tablespoonfiil of 
browned flour wet up with cold water. Boil up sharply, and serve 
in a boat. 


Queen of Puddings. 

One and a-half cups of sugar; one quart of milk; two cups of 
very dry, fine crumbs; one tablespoonful of butter; one quart of 
red raspberries. 

Rub butter, and one cup of sugar to a cream ; beat in the yolks. 
The crumbs should, all this time, be soaking in the milk. Beat 
them into eggs and buttered sugar, and, when light, pour the mix¬ 
ture into a buttered bake-dish. Bake, until the middle is well-set; 
draw to the oven door ; cover with berries, strew sugar thickly among 
and over them, and spread deftly over all a meringue of the frothed 
whites of the eggs, stiffened with two tablespoonfuls of powdered 
sugar. Shut the door, and brown the meringue lightly. Set away 
where it will cool quickly, then leave on ice until wanted. Eat with 
cream. This is not a new receipt, but among the many variations 
of the far-famed “ Queen,” I regard the above as the simplest and 
best. It is better made with strawberries than with any other fruit, 
but is always delicious and popular. 



342 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


No. 19. 

BREAKFAST. 

Green Corn Porridge. Deviled Kidneys. 

iMarama’s Muffins. Stewed Potatoes. 

Melons. Tea. . Coffee. 


Green Corn Porridge. 

Shave the grains from a dozen ears of green corn, using a sharp 
knife for the purpose, and leaving no grain whole. Put into a 
farina kettle ; barely cover with milk, fit on a lid and steam, rather 
than stew, for half an hour after the boil is reached. Stir in then a 
tablespoonful of butter rolled in corn-starch, boil five minutes, beat 
in two eggs already frothed, cook for two minutes more and turn out. 
Eat with butter or with cream, or, still again, with sugar and 
cream. It is very good. 


Deviled Kidneys. 

Split the kidneys (veal or lamb), in half, taking out the hard 
“ cores,” and dip in a mixture of butter (a teaspoonful for each 
kidney), made-mustard, lemon-juice and a suspicion of cayenne. 
Lay them within an oyster-broiler and cook gently fifteen minutes, 
turning them, over a clear fire. Rub a chafing dish (hot) with 
half an onion, lay in a teaspoonful of butter, and when this has 
melted, dish the kidneys. 

Mamma’s Muffins. 

Three cups of prepared flour ; one cup (even) of white cornmeal; 
a quart of lukewarm milk; four eggs ; half a teaspoonful of salt; 
one tablespoonful of lard, and one of sugar, stirred with the warm 
milk. 





SUMMER BILES OF FARE. 


343 


Beat the eggs light, add the milk, lard and sugar; sift salt, 
meal and flour together twice, and put iu last. Beat hard, and bake 
in mufiin tins. 


Melons. 

All varieties of the cantelope family, musk, and nutmeg melons, 
are welcome to the summer breakfast table. Cut each in half, length¬ 
wise, scoop out the seeds, put a lump of ice in the hollows thus 
made, and send to table. They are eaten by Southerners with pep¬ 
per and salt, at the North with sugar. Give your guests their choice 
of condiments. 


LUNCHEON. 

Codfish Scalloped, with Mushrooms. 

Raw Tomato Salad. Terhune Com Bread. 

Dried Rusk and Milk. Berries. 


Codfish Scalloped, with Mushrooms. 

Two cupfuls of cold, boiled codfish (fresh), “ picked” rather 
coarsely ; one cupful of good drawn butter; half a can of mushrooms ; 
half a cup of fine crumbs ; pepper and salt. 

Mince the mushrooms, and strew between the layers of the fish in 
a buttered dish, moistening, as you go on, with the drawn butter, 
and seasoning with pepper and salt. Cover the topmost layer with 
the drawn butter, then with the crumbs, stick bits of butter in these, 
and bake, covered, half an hour, then brown. You can make this 
dish of salt cod, soaked before it is cooked. In this case, beat up a 
couple of eggs in the drawn butter. 





344 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Raw Tomato Salad. 

Peel very cold tomatoes, cut in two, crosswise, and serve with 
mayonnaise or plain dressing. 


Terhune Corn Bread. 

Two cups of white corn meal; one cup of flour ; two teaspoon¬ 
fuls of white sugar; three cups of sour or buttermilk. (Half 
“ loppered ” cream makes it particularly good.) 

One rounded teaspoonful of soda, and one of salt sifted three 
times with flour and meal ; one large tablespoonful of lard. 

Sift flour, meal, salt and soda into a bowl; beat lard and sugar 
together and stir into the milk ; pour the latter into a hole in the 
middle of the flour, and stir all gradually to a good batter; beat 
hard with upward strokes, raking the bottom of the bowl with each 
sweep, for two minutes ; turn into a greased pudding mold set in a 
pot of boiling water, and cook steadily four hours, keeping the, 
water abont it at a slow boil all the time. Turn out and eat hot. 
It will be found very nice. 


Dried RUvSk and Milk (Excellent). 

Two cups of milk; two eggs ; half a cup of butter; half of a 
yeast cake, dissolved in warm water; one quart of flour ; one even 
teaspoonful of salt. Mix the milk, butter, yeast and a pint of flour 
into a sponge, and let it rise five or six hours, or until light; beat 
in the eggs, salt and the rest of the flour; roll out the dough into a 
paste more than half an inch thick; cut into round biscuits, set 
rows of them in a baking pan, rub the tops lightly with butter, and 
put another row on these ; let them rise for half an hour before 
baking. Remove from the oven, and let them get nearly cold before 




SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


345 


dividing the upper from the lower stratum ; pile lightly in pans, 
and leave in a cooking oven all night to dry. They should not be 
browned at all in drying. Hang them in a clean bag in the kitchen 
closet, or other dry, warm place. In two days they will be ready 
for use. Set a bowl at each place ; lay a rusk, cracked in two or 
three places, in it, a bit of ice on this, and pour enough rich milk to 
cover the rusk well. In three minutes, if well dried, the desiccated 
biscuits will be soft and delicious. Pass sugar and berries as an 
accompaniment. 

» -1. ■ I — 

DINNER. 

Lakewood Chowder. Chicken, fried whole. 

Potato Fritters. Summer Squash. Cucumber Salad. 

Peaches and Whipped Cream. Sponge Cake. 

Black Coffee. 


Lakewood Chowder. 

Four pounds of cod or halibut; half a pound of sliced fat salt 
pork; two minced onions; eighteen Boston crackers, split, toasted, 
and well buttered ; a glass of Sauteme or other clear, sour wine; 
pepper and salt; cold water; pint of milk. 

Fr}^ pork and one sliced onion in the bottom of the chowder 
pot; take out the pork and bits of onion with a perforated spoon 
and lay the fish in the fat; sprinkle with raw onion and season 
with pepper and salt as you go on ; cover with cold water when all 
the fish is in ; put over the fire, bring to a boil and then cook gently 
forty minutes. Soak the split, toasted and buttered crackers ten 
minutes in boiling hot milk ; take them up carefull}^, as you must 
put a layer in the bottom of the tureen when the chowder is done. 




346 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Before taking the pot from the fire, stir in the wine. Put several 
strained spoonfuls of the chowder on the soaked crackers in the 
tureen, then more crackers, and more fish, until all are used up. 
Thicken the liquor left in the pot with a great spoonful of butter 
rolled in flour. Boil up and pour on top of fish and crackers. Pass 
sliced lemon with the chowder. 


Chickens Fried Whole, t 

A well-grown broiler. It must be young and tender. Sweet, 
salted lard, or clarified dripping; flour, salt and pepper; two or 
three slices of young onions dropped in the hot fat. 

Draw, and wash out the chicken with soda and water, rinse well 
and wipe dry. Steam for half an hour. If you have no steamer, 
wrap the fowl in mosquito netting and lay in a colander; set over 
a pot of boiling water, fit a close cover on the colander and keep the 
water at a hard boil, but not touching the chicken, forty minutes. 
Wipe the fowl, roll in salted and peppered flour until well coated, and 
lay in deep salted fat, enough to cover it and boiling hot. When 
well browned, transfer to a hot dish, garnish with parsley and 
serve. A pretty and delightful dish. 


Potato Fritters. 

One cupful of mashed potato, beaten light and smooth with a 
fork; three beaten eggs; half-cup of milk; two tablespoonfuls of 
prepared flour; salt and pepper. 

Beat all well together, and drop by the large spoonful in the 
hot fat left from cooking the chicken, when you have strained 
and reheated it. Drain in a split spoon, as you take up each fritter. 




SUMMER BILES OF FARE. 347 

Summer Squash. 

Pare, take out the seeds, lay in cold water for half an hour; then 
put into a pot of boiling water, salted, cook until tender; drain and 
mash smooth with a little bntter, salt and pepper; whip to a creamy 
pulp, and dish hot. 


Peaches and Whipped Cream. 

Peel fine, ripe, freestone peaches jnst before dinner, that they 
may not change color with standing. Cover the dish containing them, 
and set on the ice nntil the dessert is served. As you help them 
out, pile peaches on saucer, stew thickly with fruit sugar, and cover 
with whipped cream—plenty of it. Pass sponge cake with the 
peaches. The cream should be ice cold. 


No. 20. 

BREAKFAST. 

Wheat Germ Porridge. Lobster Croquettes. 

Bread and Milk Muffins. Fried Cncnmbers. 

Fmit. Meringned Coffee. Tea. 

Wheat Germ Porridge. 

A receipt for this cereal will be fonnd in No. 2, Spring. 

Lobster Croquettes. 

Chop the meat of a large lobster quite fine, stir into a cnpful of 
drawn butter, beat up an egg and add it, with the jnice of half a 
lemon, salt to taste, half a cnp of cracker dust, and a little cayenne. 






348 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


(The drawn butter should be rather stiff.) Set the paste thus made 
on ice until stiff and cold. Take out a great spoonful at a time, 
make into croquettes, roll in flour, then in beaten egg, again in 
pounded cracker. Fry carefully in hot lard, drain each as you take 
it up, and serve on a hot dish. 


Bread and Milk Muffins. 

Two cups of fine, dry crumbs ; two heaping tablespoonfuls of 
prepared flour; two cups of boiling milk ; two beaten eggs ; one 
cup of boiling water; half teaspoonful of salt; one tablespoonful 
of butter. 

Pour the boiling, salted water on the crumbs, let them stand, 
covered, for half an hour; drain off the liquid without pressing the 
crumbs, and beat in the flour ; add the butter to the hot milk, and 
put in next; beat until smooth and nearly lukewarm before the 
eggs go in ; bake in muffin rings on a hot griddle. Send to the 
table hot and tear,—not cut,—open. 


Fried Cucumbers. 

Cut off the skin, slice lengthwise into thick pieces, and lay in 
cold water half an hour; wipe dry, dip in beaten egg, then, in fine 
cracker-crumbs, seasoned pretty highly with pepper and salt, and 
fry in hot lard; drain dry and eat hot. They are far more palata¬ 
ble than might be supposed. Some like to squeeze a few drops of 
lemon juice on each slice before eating it. 


Meringued Coffee. 

Make hot and strong; put into each cup one or two lumps of 
sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of scalding milk ; fill up with coffee 





SUMMER BILES OF FARE. 


349 


and lay on the surface a heaping teaspoonfiil of a meringue made 
by mixing the white of an egg, frothed stiff, with a half pint of 
whipped cream. 

LUNCHEON. 

Ragout of Sweetbreads. Potato Scallops. 

Lettuce Salad with Plain Dressing. 

Cousin Alelissa’s Sponge Cake. 

Lemonade. 

Ragout of Sweetbreads. 

Boil the sweetbreads for ten minutes ; leave them in ice-cold 
water for half an hour; wipe dry, cut into dice, add half as much 
mushroom dice, and stew in enough broth to cover them, for ten 
minutes. Season well with pepper-and-salt; put in half a cupful 
of stewed tomatoes, strained, a tablespoonful of browned flour cut 
up in as much butter; boil up sharply, and serve. 

Potato Scallops. 

Mash potatoes soft with butter and milk ; season with pepper 
and salt; whip to a cream, and fill scallop-shells with the mixture, 
mounding it high and smoothly. Bake quickly, and as they brown, 
wash over lightly with beaten egg. Eat hot from the shells. 


Cousin Melissa’s Sponge Cake. 

Twelve eggs ; four cups of powdered sugar; four cups of 
Hecker’s prepared flour; juice and grated peel of two lemons. 

Beat whites and yolks separately and very light, add the sugar 
to the yolks, then, lemon-juice and rind, the whites, at last the 




350 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


flour, stirred in quickly. Too much stirring tonghens this cake. 
Bake in sqnare or brick-shaped pans, lined with buttered paper. 
Be very careful as to the baking. Lay white paper over the pans 
when the cake goes into the oven, for the door should not be opened 
in less than twenty minutes. Turn the tins then, gently, or the 
batter may fall. This is for a large quantity of sponge cake, but 
it will be so good that it will disappear rapidly. 


Lemonadp:. 

Peel six lemons ; roll and slice them, and pack them in a pitcher, 
alternately with sugar, allowing for each lemon two heaping table- 
spoonfuls. Cover, and set in a cold place for ten or fifteen minntes 
before adding three pints of water and a lump of ice. Stir well and 
long; fill tumblers one-third the way to the top with cracked ice, 
and pour in the lemonade. 


DINNER. 

Salmon Bisque. Brown Fricassee of Chicken. 

Stuffed Tomatoes. Green Peas. Mashed Potatoes. 

Egg Salad with Sardine Mayonnaise. 
Huckleberry Pudding. Coffee. 


Salmon Bisque. 

Two full cups of minced salmon ; two cups of fine crumbs ; 
half a cup of butter ; two quarts of boiling water ; pepper and salt; 
a tablespoonful of minced parsley ; two raw eggs beaten light. 
(You can use canned salmon, if you like.) 




SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


35^ 


Rub the 'warmed butter into the minced salmon, season, and put 
over the fire with the boiling water. Cook gently half an hour, stir 
in the crumbs and parsley, simmer five minutes, add the beaten 
eggs, stir well and pour out. Send around crackers and lemon with it. 


Brown Fricassee of Chicken. 

Joint a fowl, and lay in a dripping pan on a thin stratum of 
chopped salt pork, and a little minced onion. Pour in cold water 
two inches deep, cover with another pan, and cook slowly until ten¬ 
der ; uncover, increase the heat, turning the chicken often as one 
side browns. When all the pieces are colored, take them up and ar¬ 
range on a hot dish. Add to the gravy more boiling water, a spoon¬ 
ful of butter rolled in two of browned flour, some minced parsley, 
pepper, and if needed, salt; boil up and pour over the chicken. 


Stuffed Tomatoes. 

Cut a piece from the smooth top of each fine, ripe tomato, and 
take out the inside. Chop the pulp, mix with a forcemeat of crumbs 
and butter, season with salt, sugar and pepper. Fill the hollowed 
tomatoes with this mixture, fit on the tops and bake from forty to 
forty-five minutes, packed neatly in a bake-dish. Fill the gaps be¬ 
tween the tomatoes with forcemeat if any is left over before baking. 


Egg-Salad with Sardine Mayonnaise. 

Boil eight eggs hard, and throw them into cold water, to lie there 
while you make the mayonnaise. Do this in the manner already 
prescribed in this series, and, when thick and smooth, rub four sar¬ 
dines to a pulp, and whip them in gradually. Cut the eggs into 






352 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


quarters, lay on crisp lettuce leaves, and, as you serve these out, pour 
the dressing over them. At this season, when salad is more than a 
luxury—almost a necessity, if one would keep well—study such 
agreeable novelties as the above. It will be found delicious. 


Huckleberry Pudding. 

Two cups of milk; two eggs ; four cups of flour; half a cup of 
yeast, or half a yeast-cake dissolved in warm water ; two teaspoon- 
fnls of butter; a scant teaspoonful of soda, and half as much salt 
sifted three times with the flour; a quart of berries. 

Whip the eggs, butter (wanned) and milk together, and pour 
gradual!}^ into a hole in the sifted flour. Mix well, put in the yeast, 
and set to rise in a bowl for four or flve hours, or until light. Then 
stir in the berries, dredged thickly with flour, pour into a greased 
mold, and boil steadily for two hours. Turn out, and eat warm 
with hard sauce. 


No. 21 * 


BREAKFAST. 


Arrowroot Porridge. 
Egg Biscuits. 
Fruit. 


Broiled Chickens (deviled). 
Potatoes a la Parisienne. 

Tea. Coffee. 


Arrowroot Porridge. 

One quart of milk, the richer, the better; a large cupful of cold 
water ; six full tablespoonfuls of arrowroot; half teaspoonful of salt. 

Scald the milk, wet the arrowroot to a smooth paste with the 
water, gradually; take the hot milk from the fire and pour it, a few 





SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


353 


spoonfuls at a time, slowly, on the arrowroot paste; salt, and, 
retiiriiiiig it to the fire (of course in a farina kettle), stir it five 
minutes after the water in the outer vessel boils. You can eat it 
hot with sugar and cream, or pour into cups to form, and when cold, 
set on the ice until next morning. Turn out, and eat with cream 
and sugar. 


Broiled Chickens (deviled). 

Clean, split down the back, and broil over a clear fire in the 
usual way until they are done and begin to brown. Lay in a 
dripping-pan, and rub all over with a sauce made by whipping light 
a tablespoonful of made-mustard, a teaspoonful of vinegar, and a 
pinch of cayenne. Sift fine crumbs over all, and set on the upper 
grating of a hot oven to brown. Transfer to a hot chafing dish ; 
lay a little of the sauce on each leg and breast, and serve. 


Egg Biscuits. 

One quart of prepared flour; a tablespoonful of lard, and twice 
as much butter; a teaspoonful of salt; two cups of milk ; the yolks 
of two eggs beaten light. 

Salt the flour, and sift it twice in a bowl, rub in the shortening 
thoroughl}^ and lightl}'; mix yolks and milk together, pour into a 
hole in the flour, work into a paste with as little handling as possi¬ 
ble ; roll into a sheet half an inch thick; cut into round cakes, and 
bake in a floured pan. Eat hot. 


Potatoes a la Parisienne . 

Cut into small, round marbles with a potato-gouge, and throw 
into ice cold water; leave them there for half an hour ; diy^ them 





354 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


well between two clean towels, and drop into a kettle of boiling 
lard, slightly salted and peppered. Cook—not too fast—to a yellow- 
brown ; drain, and serve in a dish lined with a hot napkin. 


LUNCHEON. 


Ham Rarebit. 

Bread, Butter and Olives. 

Pink-and-White Cake. 


Corn Fritters. 

Radishes. 

Lemonade. 


Ham Rarebit. 

One cupful of minced corned ham ; one cupful of dry, grated 
cheese ; two eggs ; three tablespoonfuls of cream or milk ; cayenne 
to taste ; slices of toasted bread, buttered. 

Beat the eggs light, mix meat and cheese, stir the eggs into the 
milk, and put all together in a bowl; work to a batter, spread 
thickly on crustless slices of buttered toast, brown quickly on the 
upper grating of the oven, and send at once to table. 


Corn Fritters. 

Cut the corn from the cob, and mince with a keen chopper^ 
bruising as little as may be; allow two eggs to a heaping cupful of 
the minced grains, a half-cupful of milk, a tablespoonful of pre¬ 
pared flour, a saltspoonful of salt, and a teacupful of melted butter. 
Beat the eggs light, add the milk, butter, salt, finally the flour. 
Bake on a griddle and send in ver}^ hot. 


Pink-and-White-Cake. 

Three cups of prepared flour ; two cups of sugar; whites of five 
eggs; one cup of butter; one cup of milk , one teaspoonful of 






SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 355 

powdered cochineal; one teaspoonfiil of rose-water, and the same of 
essence of bitter almond; cream the butter and sugar. 

Add the milk, and stir in alternately the frothed whites and the 
flour, beating up lightly. Halve the batter, and mix with one portion 
the powdered cochineal dissolved in a tablespoonful of cold water, and 
a tablespoonful of rose water, then, strain through double muslin ; to 
the other add the bitter almond flavoring. Put alternate spoonfuls of 
pink and white batter into a buttered cake-mold and bake in a 
steady oven. If judiciously mixed, the cake will be prettil}^ mot¬ 
tled. 


DINNER. 


Baked Soup. Oysters au Gratin. 

Stewed Pigeons. String Beans an Maitre d' Hotel. 

Scallop of Corn and Tomatoes. 

Apple Meringue. Peaches. Pears. 

Coffee. 


Baked Soup. 

Two pounds of lean beef, chopped small; half a pound of 
corned ham, also minced ; one onion; one carrot; a quarter cab¬ 
bage ; a pint of string beans ; a pint of com cut from the cob; six 
large tomatoes, sliced ; one turnip ; four potatoes (parboiled) ; a 
tablespoonful of minced parsley ; one tart apple, pared and quar¬ 
tered ; four quarts of cold water; a heaping teaspoonful of salt, and 
half as much pepper; one teaspoonful of sugar. 

Peel and cut the vegetables small; pack them, alternately with 
the meat, in a stone jar; season, cover with the water; fit a top on 
the jar and cover the cracks around the edges with a paste of flour 




356 


house and home. 


and water; set in a deep pan of cold water, put into the oven and 
cook steadily for six hours ; as the water in the pan boils down, 
replenish from the boiling tea-kettle. A good family soup. Serve 
without straining. 

Oysters an Gratin. 

One quart of oysters. 

One cupful of thick, drawn butter, in which, after it is taken 
from the lire, have been mixed two beaten eggs and a teaspoouful 
of Durkee’s salad-dressing, bread crumbs, pepper and salt. Drain the 
oysters, lay them on a soft cloth, and, spreading another over them, 
pat it to absorb all the moisture ; on a layer of these, arranged in a 
bake-dish, salted and peppered, put one of drawn butter, more 
oysters, more drawn butter, etc., until the materials are used up; 
cover with fine crumbs, drop bits of butter on top, and bake, covered, 
half an hour, then brown. 


Stewed Pigeons. 

Draw and wash the pigeons, and lay them whole in a broad pot; 
scatter a little minced onion, pepper, salt and chopped parsley on 
them, and cover barely with weak broth or sonp-stock; cover 
closely, and simmer, never boiling hard, until tender ; take out the 
birds and keep hot, while you strain the gravy ; skim off the fat, 
return to the fire and boil up sharply; thicken with browned flour, 
put in a dozen chopped mushrooms, cook five minutes, add a glass 
of sherry, and pour over the pigeons. 


String Beans an Maitre Hotel. 

String with care ; cut into inch lengths and cook tender in 
plenty of boiling water slightly salted ; drain dry ; have ready in 





SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


357 


a frying-pan a tablespoonful of butter, salt, pepper and a tablespoon¬ 
ful of vinegar, liot, but not boiling; stir in the beans, tossing 
lightly with a silver fork, and ser\^e hot. 


Scallop of Corn and Tomatoes. 

Shave the com from the cob, and pack in alternate layers with 
tomatoes peeled and sliced in a bake-dish; sprinkle each stratum * 
with butter, pepper, salt, a little sugar and a few bits of minced 
onion, and, if you like, some shreds of fat salt pork ; cover with 
fine crumbs, peppered and salted, with bits of bntter here and there ; 
bake, covered, until the surface is bubbling hot, then brown 
lightly. 


Apple Meringue. 

Two cnps of strained apple sauce ; four eggs; four tablespoon¬ 
fuls of sugar for the sauce, one for the meringue; one tablespoonful 
of butter stirred into the sauce while hot; some good pie crust; 
grated lemon-peel for seasoning. 

Beat four yolks and two whites light with the sugar, and whip 
with the sauce ; have ready a pie plate lined with nice crust, baked; 
fill with the mixture ; spread with a meringue made of the remain¬ 
ing whites and sugar; brown lightly and quickly in a hot oven; 
eat cold. 


No. 22. 

BREAKFAST. 

Farina Gmel. Stewed Sheeps’ Tongues. 

Oatmeal Bannocks. Chopped Potatoes. 

Tea. 


Fruit. 


Coffee. 





358 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Farina Gruel. 

One cup of farina; one tablespoonful of butter; one quart of 
milk ; half-teaspoonful of salt; bit of soda in the milk. 

Scald three cupfuls of milk ; wet the farina with the remaining 
cup of cold milk, and stir into the hot. Cook, stirring often, half 
an hour; add the butter and salt, and cook ten minutes longer. 
Beat up well and pour out. Eat with, or without sugar, as you 
like. 


Stewed Sheeps’ Tongues. 

Soak for an hour in cold water ; drain, and cover with boiling 
water until you can peel off the skin. Do this over night, and 
leave on ice until morning. Then split lengthwise into four pieces 
when you have trimmed them neatly. Put for each tongue a table¬ 
spoonful of chopped pork into a saucepan, a teaspoonful of minced 
parsley, half a dozen chopped mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste, 
and the juice of half a lemon for the whole number. Lay the split 
tongues on this prepared bed, pour in a cupful of skimmed gravy 
or weak broth—cold water, if you have neither—and stew gently 
until tender. Thicken with browned flour; boil up and pour out. 
Your butcher will save the tongues for you at a small cost, if you 
give him timely notice. A half-cup of stewed and strained toma¬ 
toes is an improvement to the stew. 


Oatmeal Bannocks. 

Three cups of oatmeal; one cup of white flour, prepared; one 
pint of boiling milk ; two tablespoonfuls of butter; half a teaspoon¬ 
ful of salt. 

Sift oatmeal, flour and salt twice together into a bowl, melt the 
butter in the milk, make a hole in the middle of the meal, etc., and 




SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


359 


pour this iu. Stir into a soft dough as quickly as possible, roll into 
a sheet one-eighth of an inch thick, cut into round cakes, and bake 
on a hot griddle. Butter while hot, and serve. They are good 
cold, also. 

Chopped Potatoes. 

Mince some fat roast beef coarsely and put into a frying-pan 
with a few spoonfuls of minced parsley. As it heats throw in 
chopped potatoes, pepper and salt, and toss until they begin to 
brown. Turn out upon a hot dish. 


Bread. 

Rissoles. 

Butter. 

LUNCHEON. 

Cucumber Salad. 

Olives. 

Iced Milk. 

Rusk. 

Warm Gingerbread. 



Rissoles. 



Mince cold veal or chicken, season with pepper and salt, roll ont 
a good pie crust, as for tarts, cut into squares or oblongs, as for 
turn-overs, put a tablespoonful of the seasoned meat in the center of 
each, brush the edges with white of egg, and make into a neat roll 
enveloping the meat. Pinch the edges of the paste firmly together; 
bake in a quick oven. When brown, wash over with beaten egg; 
leave in the oven for a minute to glaze, and serve hot. These are 
nice made of cold calf’s liver. 

Cucumber Salad. 

Peel and slice the cucumbers and leave iu ice-water for an hour, 
drain, slice an onion, and lay in a cold dish alternately with the 
cucumbers, and season with vinegar, pepper and salt. 






HOUSE AND HOME. 


360 

Rusk. ' 

One quart of flour ; one cup of sugar; half a cup of butter; half 
a yeast cake, dissolved in warm water ; one teaspoonful of salt; two 
eggs. 

Sift flour and salt together, pour in milk and yeast, and let it 
rise four or five hours before adding the beaten eggs, sugar and but¬ 
ter. Work these in well, and make it into small rolls ; set closely 
together in a pan. Throw a cloth over them and let them stand 
until light. Bake in a steady oven. Just before taking them up, 
wash the top with white of egg in which a little sugar has been 
stirred. 


Warm Gingerbread. 

One cup of sugar ; one cup of molasses ; one cup of butter; one 
cup of “ loppered ” milk or cream ; four and a-half cups of flour ; 
one teaspoonful of soda, sifted twice with the flour; one tablespoonful 
of ginger; one teaspoonful of mixed mace and cinnamon ; three eggs. 

Beat together molasses, sugar, butter and spices until they are 
very light; put in the milk, beaten eggs, and finally, flour. Stir vigor¬ 
ously for five minutes, and bake in a “ card.” Break, instead of cut¬ 
ting it, and eat with iced milk as an accompaniment. 


DINNER. 


Curry Rice Soup. 

Stewed Chops. 
Lettuce Salad. 


Baked Pickerel and Mashed Potatoes. 
Green Peas. String Beans. 

Peach Ice-cream. Lemon Cake. 




36 i 


SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 

Curry Rice Soup. 

One cup of rice ; one tablespoonful of curry powder ; two quarts 
of soup-stock, mutton, chicken or veal; half an onion, minced fine ; 
two tablespoonfuls of minced parsley ; salt to taste. 

Boil the rice tender in the stock when the latter has cooked 
fifteen minutes with the minced onion in it; add the parsley, salt 
and curry; simmer twent}'' minutes, and turn out. It should be 
quite thick with the rice. 


Baked Pickerel. 

Clean a fine pickerel without removing the head, lay it in a 
dripping pan, and pour about it a large cupful of boiling water, in 
which has been melted a great spoonful of butter; cover with 
another pan, and cook half an hour ; baste plentifully with the but- 
ter-and-water, and cook uncovered, basting often, at interv^als of 
fifteen minutes or longer, until tender ; transfer to a hot dish, and 
rub well all over with a sauce made by beating together a table- 
spoonful of butter, one of finely minced parsley, and two tablespoon¬ 
fuls of anchovy paste. Garnish with sliced lemon, and send 
around mashed potatoes with it. 


Stewed Chops. 

Broil the chops, and let them get cold. Put into a saucepan 
with a tablespoonful of minced onion, and two of butter; cover 
tightly, and set in a kettle of cold water. Bring slowly to the boil. 
At the end of an hour, add a cupful of hot broth (made from the 
trimmings of the chops), seasoned with pepper, salt, a pinch of cloves, 
and chopped parsley. Cover again, set the saucepan directly on the 
range, and stew gently until the chops are tender. Lay them on a 




362 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


hot dish ; strain the gravy, thicken with browned flour, stir in a 
good teaspoonful of currant jelly, boil one minute and pour over the 
chops. A few mushrooms improve this dish. Tough, ungainly 
mutton chops may be made tender and palatable by this process. 


String Beans. 

Cut the strings from both sides of the beans, top and tail them, 
and cut into two-inch lengths. Few cooks perform this task prop¬ 
erly. If it were always well done, beans would be a favorite dish 
with many who now “ do not care for it. ” Put over the fire in boil¬ 
ing, salted water, and cook forty minutes if the beans are young 
and tender, longer, if they are not. Drain, stir a good piece of 
butter through them, pepper and salt to taste. Send around vine¬ 
gar with them for such as like it. 


Peach Ice-Cream. 

One quart of rich cream ; one pint of milk; two and a half 
cups of sugar; one quart of peeled and minced peaches. 

Sweeten the cream with two cups of sugar, mix with the milk, 
and freeze. When half frozen, stir in the peaches, over which you 
have strewed the remaining half cup of sugar. Turn the freezer 
crank until the mixture is firm ; pack in finely pounded ice, and 
rock-salt until you are ready for it. Wrap a towel dipped in boiling 
water around the freezer and turn out. 


Lemon Cake. 

Two cups of powdered sugar ; one cup of butter; half cupful 
of milk ; four eggs ; three cups of prepared flour. 





SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


363 


Rub butter and sugar together, beat in the whipped yolks, the 
milk, then, flour, and frothed whites by turns. Bake in jelly-cake 
tins. When cold, spread between the cakes this Ailing: 

Whites of three eggs and a pound of powdered sugar beaten to 
a meringue, then flavored with the grated peel of one lemon, and 
the juice of two. Should the juice thin the meringue too much, 
add more sugar. Cover the top of the cake with the same mixture, 
let it stand three or four hours to harden the frosting, and serv^e 
with the ice cream. 


No. 23. 

BREAKFAST. 

Wheaten Grits. 

Ham fried in Batter. Browned Potatoes. 

Rice Waffles. 

Fruit. Tea. Coffee. 


Ham Fried in Batter. 

Cut even slices of cold cooked ham, and pepper them lightly. 
Make a batter of a cup of milk, two eggs, and a scant cup of pre¬ 
pared flour; salt slightly, dip the ham-slices in it, and fry them in 
boiling lard, or dripping. Drain off the grease, and serve on a hot 
platter. 


Browned Potatoes. 

Boil with the skins on ; peel quickly, taking care not to break 
the potatoes. Lay in a pie-plate, pour half a cupful of strained 
gravy over them, coat each well with them and brown on the upper 
grating of the oven. Serve in the pie-dish. 





3^4 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Rice Waffles. 

Two cups of flour; two cups of cold boiled rice; three cups of 
sour or buttermilk ; three eggs ; a teaspoonful of soda, and one of 
salt, sifted twice with the flour ; a tablespoonful of lard. 

Melt the lard, and beat it well into the rice; add the milk, the 
eggs whipped light, finally the flour. The batter should not be 
stiff, so have “ a light hand ” with flour. Bake in well-greased 
waffle-irons. 


LUNCHEON. 

Beef Balls. Corn Cakes. Potato Salad, 

Bread and Butter. Crackers and Cheese. 

Lemon Cream Toast. Wilbur’s Cocoa-theta. 


Beef Balls. 

Chop cold corned beef evenly, and quite fine; put into a sauce¬ 
pan a cup of drawn-butter, having for its foundation some of the 
liquor in which the meat was boiled, flavored by stewing a little 
chopped onion in it, then, straining it out, before adding a great 
spoonful of butter, rolled in one of browned flour ; while hot, stir 
in two beaten eggs, then the minced beef Season with pepper only, 
if the beef is well-salted ; stir all over the fire (there should be about 
two cupfuls of the chopped meat), until very hot; set away to get 
cold and stiff; make into round balls about an inch and a half in 
diameter; roll in beaten egg, then, in pounded cracker, and fry in 
boiling fat. Drain and dish. 

Corn Cake. 

Shred the grains of green corn quite fine ; beat into them a table¬ 
spoonful of melted butter, a teaspoonful of sugar, three eggs, a cup of 





SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


365 


milk with two tablespoonfuls of prepared flour, half a teaspoonful of 
salt and a little pepper. Mix well, and fry on a griddle as you would 
buckwheat or flannel-cakes. Send in relays to table, as they should 
be eaten hot. 


Potato Salad. 

Two cups of boiled potato, mealy and white, rubbed through a 
colander, and left to get cold. Half a cupful of white cabbage, 
shredded fine with a sharp knife, and criss-cross with the same— 
chopping would bruise it. Two tablespoonfuls of celery shred in 
the same way. Yolks of two hard boiled eggs, rubbed to a powder ; 
toss all together with a silver fork, and pour this dressing over it: 

Yolks of two eggs, beaten smooth ; one tablespoonful of melted 
butter; one teaspoonful of sugar, and the same of corn-starch ; half¬ 
spoonful each, of salt and mustard, and a very little cayenne; a 
liberal half cupful of vinegar. 

Heat the vinegar and pour upon the yolks, sugar, butter and 
seasoning, well beaten together; wet the corn-starch with water, and 
stir into the mixture; cook all, stirring constantly, two minutes, or 
until it thickens, then, whip with a silver fork into the potato salad. 
Set aside until ver}' cold. 


Lemon Cream Toast. 

Rounds of stale baker’s bread, crustless, and cut with the top of 
a baking-powder box or a tin cake-cutter ; one pint of milk ; half 
a cup of sugar ; three eggs ; grated peel of half a lemon; three 
tablespoonfuls of prepared flour. 

Make a thin batter of the milk, eggs, sugar and flour, season 
with lemon-peel, dip each round of bread in this, coating both sides, 
and fry in boiling lard; heap on a hot platter, spreading each piece 




366 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


with a sauce made by whipping a cup of powdered sugar to a cream 
with the juice of a large lemon and a tablespoonful of warmed but¬ 
ter. Pass cocoa-theta with it. 


DINNER. 


Fish Bisque Maigre. 
Potato Croquettes. 

Peach Pudding 
Fruit. 


Fricasseed Rabbits. 

Baked Cauliflower. 
Peach Sauce. 

Coffee. 


Fish Bisque Maigre. 

Three pounds of black bass, halibut or any other fine white fish; 
half an onion ; three stalks of celery; a tablespoonful of chopped 
parsley ; two quarts of boiling water; one cupful of cracker crumbs ; 
a cupful of milk ; two tablespoonfuls of butter, pepper and salt; six 
Boston crackers. 

Cut the fish into inch-square pieces, and put over the fire with 
the onion, celery and boiling water. Cook until the fish is tender ; 
take out the pieces with a skimmer; remove the bones, and chop 
the fish fine. Strain the liquor left in the pot, and return to the 
fire with the minced fish, parsley and crumbs. Season judiciously ; 
stir to a gentle boil; add the butter, and lastly the milk, which 
should have been scalding hot in another vessel. Simmer one 
minute, and pour upon the split crackers, these having been soaked 
in hot milk, salted, peppered and buttered, and arranged as a lining 
to the tureen. This soup is delicious. 


Fricasseed Broilers. 

Clean carefully and joint a pair of broiling chickens ; roll each 
piece in salted flour, and put in a saucepan, in which are simmering 





SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


367 


two tablespoonfuls of clarified dripping, and one of butter; add a 
teaspoonful of chopped onion and shake over the fire until the meat 
is browned lightly; pour in a cupful of boiling water, season with 
parsley, pepper, salt, and a pinch of cloves ; cover closely, and cook 
slowly until tender. Take up the meat and keep in a hot chafing- 
dish ; strain the gravy, thicken with browned flour, boil up sharply, 
add the juice of a lemon and a glass of claret; pour upon the chick¬ 
ens, and let all stand over hot water five minutes before sending to 
table. The fricassee is improved by the addition to the gravy of 
a can of mushrooms. 


Potato Croquettes. 

Boil a dozen potatoes, rub them through a colander, or whip 
them light with two forks; work in, while hot, a tablespoonful of 
butter, half a cupful of hot milk, a little salt and pepper; stir in a 
saucepan until smoking hot, beat in two eggs, and continue to beat 
until you have a smooth mass, boiling hot; turn out on a dish, and 
let it get cold ; flour your hands, make the mixture into croquettes 
and roll in beaten egg, then in cracker-crumbes; fry in plenty of 
hot lard. Drain off the fat and serve. 


Baked Cauliflower. 

Boil tender, but not until it breaks ; split down the middle with 
a sharp knife ; lay the cut sides downward in a bake-dish ; pour 
Over and about it a large cupful of drawn butter, sift fine crumbs 
on top, and set it in the oven until it begins to brown. Serve in 
the bake-dish. Pass vinegar, or cut lemon with it. 

Peach Pudding. 

Peel and stone a dozen fine peaches ; strew thickly with sugar, 
and set in a cold place for an hour. Make a batter of a quart of 





368 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


milk, two cups (even ones) of prepared flour, four eggs, a table¬ 
spoonful of melted lard, and half a teaspoonful of salt, beat the eggs 
light, add the milk, the lard, salt, flour, and whip together for a 
minute ; drain and wipe the peaches and lay them in a buttered 
pudding-dish, pour the batter over them, and bake, covered, forty- 
five minutes in a steady oven, then brown lightly. 


Peach Sauce. 

Strain the liquor drained from the peaches, and heat it; sweeten 
with six tablespoonfuls of sugar; stir until hot and clear.; add a 
tablespoonful of butter, a glass of brandy and a pinch of cinnamon. 
Simmer one minute, and pour into a boat. 


No. 24. 

BREAKFAST. 

English Oatmeal Porridge. 

Beef Sausages. Raised Muffins. 

Stewed Potatoes. Brown and White Bread. 

Tea. Coffee. Fruit. 


English Oatmeal Porridge. 

Wet one cup of oatmeal and a teaspoonful of salt into a paste 
with cold water, and stir into a quart of boiling water ; put iuto a 
farina-kettle ; fill the outer vessel with boiling water, and set at one 
side of the range when you go to bed, and the fire is low; stir well 
before leaving it, and again before setting it over the fire in the 
morning. Do not put a spoon in it again, but cook for more than 
an hour before dishing. 





SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


369 


Beef Sausages. 

Chop a tough or coarse “ steak-piece ” fine, or get your butcher 
.to do it for you ; season with a little powdered thyme, salt, pepper, 
a very little mustard, a teaspoonful of lemon juice, and a pinch of 
grated lemon peel; make into round, flat cakes, roll in flour, 
and fry in a little hot dripping or butter, turning as they brown. 
Drain, and serve hot. 

Raised Muffins (without eggs). 

Two cups of milk ; a teaspoonful of lard or butter; three cups 
of flour; half a yeast cake; a teaspoouful of salt sifted with the 
flour. 

Heat the milk; stir iu the shortening, and when blood-warm 
add half the flour, and beat hard for three minutes ; let it rise in a 
moderately warm place all night; in the morning, work in the rest 
of the flour and the salt; make into balls and let it rise in greased 
mufl&n-rings, set on a floured board. When light, slip a cake-turner 
under each and transfer to a hot griddle well greased. Turn, when 
the under side is done. Eat warm, pulling them open to butter 
them. 


LUNCHEON. 

Scalloped Eggs. Fried Sweet Potatoes. 

Bread. Butter. Pickles. 

Cold Meat. Warm Jelly Cake. Tea. 

Scalloped Eggs. 

Six eggs ; one cup of milk ; a tablespoonful of butter; two tea¬ 
spoonfuls of com-starch ; pepper ; salt; crumbs. 





370 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Boil the eggs hard and throw them into cold water; peel off 
shells and skin, when cold, chop the whites ver}* fine and rub the 
yolks to powder ; heat the milk to boiling, stir in the butter, cut up 
in the corn-starch ; stir until they begin to thicken, then, add the 
minced whites and seasoning ; drop bits of butter on them, pepper 
and salt, and cover with a layer of the powdered yolks ; next, comes 
a stratum of the whites and drawn butter, and a final crust of the 
crumbs, salted, peppered, and buttered. Bake, covered, twenty 
minutes, brown slightly, and serve in a pie dish. 

Fried Sweet Potatoes. 

Peel parboiled sweet potatoes while hot, slice, and let them get 
cold ; salt and pepper them, and fry to a nice brown in hot dripping, 
turning as the under side browns; take up as fast as they are done, 
and, shaking off the fat, lay on a heated dish ; serve hot. A nice 
way of disposing of potatoes left over from yesterday’s dinner. In 
this case, slice while warm. 

Warm Jelly Cakf.s. 

Three cups of prepared flour; three eggs; three-quarters of a 
cup of butter; two cups of sugar; a generous half-cup of milk; 
one cup of apple, peach, or other sweet jelly; cream, butter and 
sugar; add the beaten yolks, the milk, then, the flour and w^hites 
alternately; bake in jelly cake tins, and, while still warm, spread 
with the jelly, and serve. Pass tea or chocolate with it. 


DINNER. 

Beef and Sago Soup. Cod and Macaroni. 

Liver, a laJar'diniere. Stewed Celery (brown). 

Potato Croquettes. Hedgehog Pudding. 

Coffee. Fruit. 





SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 371 

♦ 

Beef and Sago Soup. 

Three pounds of coarse beef minced fine; three quarts of cold 
nater; one tablespoonful of minced onion ; half a cup of German 
sago, soaked for two hours in a cup of cold water; salt and pepper 
to taste. 

Put beef, onion and water on together, and cook gently four 
hours, and until the liquid is reduced to two quarts ; season, and set 
aside until next day ; skim off the fat, strain through a coarse 
cloth; put the stock back over the fire, and, when it boils, throw in 
the white and shell of an egg ; boil slowly five minutes ; strain again 
without squeezing, return to the fire with the soaked sago, and 
simmer fifteen minutes. 

Cod and Macaroni. 

Half-p3und of macaroni; three tablespoonfuls of grated cheese ; 
one cupful of cold boiled cod (fresh), minced fine; one cupful of 
warm milk; one great spoonful of butter, cut up in one of prepared 
flour ; salt and dust of cayenne. 

Break the macaroni into inch lengths, and boil in salted water 
until clear, but not broken. While it is boiling, heat the milk, stir 
in the floured butter, pepper, salt and cheese. As it thickens, add 
the minced fish, lastly the macaroni, drained, and turn into a deep 
dish. Let it stand in hot water five minutes before sending to table. 
Make a separate course of it. 

Liver a la Jardiniere . 

Wash the liver, and lay it whole in cold salt-and-water for one 
hour; lard it then, diagonally, with strips of fat salt pork project¬ 
ing on each side; slice, and cut into dice one carrot, half an onion, 
two roots of oyster plant, and one turnip. Parboil them for ten 
minutes, drain, and throw into cold water until cooled; drain again, 




372 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


cover the bottom of a broad pot with them, and lay the liver on 
them ; pour in two cupfuls of cold water, cover closely, and cook 
very slowly—turning the liver once—for three hours. Take up the 
liver, and lay it on a hot platter; then, the vegetables with a skim¬ 
mer, shaking off the grease, and put about the base of the liver. 
Strain the gravy left in the pot, thicken with browned flour; boil 
up, season with lemon juice and catsup, and pour some over the 
liver, most of it into a gravy-boat. 


Stewed Celery (brown). 

Scrape the stalks of a bunch of celery, cut into inch-lengths and 
cook tender in a cup of soup-stock or gravy, diluted and strained; 
heat a tablespoonful of butter in a frying-pan, and stir into it a 
tablespoon fill or so of browned flour until you have a smooth ronx. 
Drain the celery, add the liquor (strained) to that in the frying-pan, 
season with pepper and salt, boil up, and pour over the celery in a 
deep dish. 

Potato Croquettes. 

Two cups of smoothly mashed potatoes; one egg beaten light ^ 
half cup of milk ; one teaspoonful of butter, pepper and salt. 

Beat all together until light, stir in a saucepan until hot and 
stiffened. Turn out upon a flat dish to get cold. Form it into cro¬ 
quettes, roll in beaten egg, then in fine crumbs, and fry in hot 
dripping. Drain from the fat in a split spoon and arrange on a hot 
platter. 

Hedgehog Pudding. 

Two cups of milk; three eggs ; half cup of sugar; quarter 
pound of citron ; one cup of wine; one glass of brandy ; one “ brick ” 
sponge cake. 






SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


373 


Cut the citron into strips an inch long, and perhaps a sixteenth 
jf an inch thick, and stick in regular rows along the top of the 
cake. Some hours before dinner pour over it, as it lies on the 
platter, or in a long glass dish, the wine, then the brandy ; make a 
custard of the sugar, yolks-and-milk ; cook, until it begins to 
thicken, and while lukewarm, pour over the cake ; when quite cold, 
heap a meringue, made by whipping the whites stiff with a little 
powdered sugar, on the custard, leaving the bristly back of the 
“ hedgehog ” in sight. 

No. 25. 

BREAKFAST. 

Wheaten Grits. Breakfast Bacon. Boiled Eggs. 

Waffles. Cold Bread. Fruit. 

Tea. Coffee. 

Wheaten Grits. 

A recipe for the preparation of this cereal may be found in No. 2 
Spring. 

. Breakfast Bacon. 

Boneless breakfast bacon, usually dubbed “ English ” by cour¬ 
tesy, is for sale at every grocer’s. It is an inevitable adjunct of the 
English breakfast, and a valuable appetizer. “ Ferris’ ” is an 
excellent brand. 

Slice it smooth and thin, and fry in its own fat until clear and 
“ ruffled ” at the edges. What some people call “ crisp bacon,” is 
overdone and ruined. Drain off the fat, and serve dry on a hot 
dish. 





374 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Boiled Eggs. 


Wash and lay in warm —not hot—water until you are ready to 
put them on the breakfast-table. Have then ready in an egg-boiler 
or other vessel, water that is actually on the boil. Change the eggs 
into it, and instantly extinguish the spirit-lamp beneath, or take 
from the fire. Cover the vessel closely, and wrap a thick cloth 
about it to keep in the heat. Leave the eggs in the water six min¬ 
utes, then transfer to cups or glasses. Eggs cooked thus are of 
uniform softness throughout, and far more wholesome than when 
boiled fast, long enough to cook the whites into indigestible tough¬ 
ness, leaving the yolks liquid. Eat from the shell once, and you 
will never again prefer to empty them into glasses. 


Waffles. 


One quart of milk ; one quart of sifted flour, in which is mixed 
one even teaspoonful of fine salt; three tablespoonfuls of melted 
butter ; half a yeast-cake dissolved in warm water; two eggs ; one 
teaspoonful of sugar. 

Sift flour, salt and sugar into a bowl, make a hole in the middle, 
and pour in the milk and butter. Work down the flour from the 
sides until all is smoothly mixed in, then add the yeast beaten in 
thoroughly. Set to rise over night; early in the morning put in 
the beaten eggs, whip hard, and let the batter rise half an hour 
longer, before baking it in well-greased waffle-irons. 


LUNCHEON. 


Beef Loaf. 
Cold Bread. 

Cocoanut Cake. 


Crackers. 


Sardines on Toast. 


Tea. 


Cheese. 




SUMMER BILES OF FARE. 


375 


Beef Loaf. 

Chop very fine, or have your butcher mince two pounds of 
coarse lean beef. Season spicily with pepper, salt, nutmeg, sum¬ 
mer savory, or sweet marjoram, and a cautious sprinkling of minced 
onion. Beat two eggs light and beat up with the mass. Press! 
hard into a bowl; fit a saucer or plate (inverted) upon the meat and 
set in a dripping-pan of boiling water to cook slowly for an hour 
and a quarter. Lay a weight on the surface when it is done, and 
let it get perfectly cold before turning out. Cut in perpendicular 
slices. 

Sardines on Toast. 

Take the sardines from the box, lay on soft paper to absorb the 
fat, pressing another sheet of paper on them. Have triangles of 
delicately browned and buttered toast on a dish ; lay a sardine on 
each, and garnish with sliced lemon. 


CocoANUT Cake. 

Two cups of prepared flour; one heaping cup of powdered 
sugar ; half a cup of butter ; half a cup of milk; three eggs ; 
one grated cocoanut, mixed with a cupful of powdered sugar, and 
left to stand two hours. 

Rub butter and sugar to a cream; stir in the beaten yolks, 
the milk, then the frothed whites and the flour. Bake in jelly cake 
tins; spread the cocoanut and sugar between the layers and on top. 

DINNER. 

Lobster Chowder. Braised Veal. Potato Hillocks. 

Indian Meal Pudding. 

Coffee. 


Stewed Tomato. 
Fruit. 





376 HOUSE AND HOME. 

Lobster Chowder. 

Meat of one fine lobster, picked out from the shell, and cut into 
bits; one quart of milk ; six Boston crackers, split and buttered; 
one even teaspoonful of salt; one scant quarter-teaspoonful of 
cayenne ; two tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in one of prepared 
flour; a pinch of soda in the milk. 

Scald the milk, and stir in seasoning, butter and flour; cook 
one minute; add the lobster, and simmer five minutes. Line a 
tureen with the toasted and buttered crackers, dipping each quickly 
in boiling water before putting it in place, and pour in the chowder. 
Send around sliced lemon with it. 


Braised Veal. 

Chop a half-pound of fat salt pork fine, and put half of it in 
the bottom of a broad pot; sprinkle it with minced onion, sweet 
herbs, and a teaspoonful of chopped carrot. Lay a breast of veal 
on this bed, and cover it with a similar layer. Pour in carefully a 
quart of weak broth, if you have it. If not, cold water; season 
with pepper and salt. Fit a tight lid on the top and set it where it 
cook slowly—very slowly—for two hours at least. Now take up 
the meat, rub butter all over it, and dredge thickly with browned 
flour. Put it into a dripping-pan, strain the gravy from the pot into 
this, not pouring it on the meat, and bake half an hour in a good 
oven, basting every five minutes with the gravy. Transfer the veal 
to a hot dish, thicken the gravy in the pan with browned flour wet 
with cold water; boil up, and serve in a boat. 


Potato Hillocks. 

Whip boiled potatoes light with a little butter and milk, and 
season with salt and pepper. Beat in a raw egg to bind the mix- 




SUMMER BILLS OF FARE. 


377 


ture, shape iuto small conical heaps ; set in a greased pan, and as 
they brown, glaze with the butter. The oven must be very hot. 
Slip a cake turner under each hillock, and transfer to a hot platter. 


Stewed Tomato. 

One dozen ripe tomatoes ; one tablespoonful of butter; one table¬ 
spoonful of sugar ; salt and pepper to taste. 

Pour boiling water over the tomatoes to loosen the skins. Peel, 
cut into quarters, and stew for twenty minutes. Add butter, sugar, 
salt and pepper, and leave them on the fire for twenty minutes 
longer. Turn into a deep vegetable dish. 


Indian Meal Pudding. 

One cup of yellow Indian meal; one quart and a cupful of milk; 
three eggs ; half a cup of molasses ; one generous tablespoonful of 
butter; one teaspoonful of salt; one pint of boiling water; half 
teaspoonful each, of cinnamon and mace. 

Scald the salted meal with the water. Heat the milk in a farina 
kettle; stir in the scalded meal and boil, stirring often, for half an 
hour. Beat the eggs light, put in the butter-and-molasses stirred 
together until they are several shades lighter than at first, add the 
spice, lastly, the batter from the farina kettle, beaten in, a little at 
a time, until all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. 
Grease a pudding-dish, pour in the mixture and bake, covered, in a 
steady oven three-quarters of an hour. Remove the lid and brown. 
This is the genuine, old-fashioned New England “ Indian ” pud¬ 
ding. Eat with sauce, or with cream and sugar. It is very nice. 





The Plague of Flies. 

I T became apparent by the time the last month of our nominal 
American spring was half-gone, that the year of which I write 
was to be cursed by a full “ fly season.” One week of unsea¬ 
sonably warm weather brought the buzzing horde out in force 
from the mysterious corners into which the dear old clean-out-of- 
fashion-and-out-of-mind “ Cobzvebs to catch fiies ” used to tell us, the 
liarmless little fly “ crept to sleep all winter.” In our home, we bum 
the contents of our dust-pans, and, as winter shows signs of abdicating 
in favor of beauteous spring, we redouble our zeal in sweeping rooms 
and suspicious examination of carpet edges. Rugs are shaken harder 
and oftener, closets inspected, and their contents sifted rigorously. 
The dogma that with the fluff collected by the broom go into the 
fire the eggs of house-flies, the lan^ae of moths, etc., is held in 
cheerful sincerity of belief Not that we—or any of our acquaint- 
auces—ever saw a house-fly egg {gouus A'fnsca). But, reasoning 
from analogy, we assume that this is the Muscan method of repro¬ 
duction illimitable, of maddening multiplication. 

In this fateful year, Tyndall’s fascinating treatise on “ Dust and 
Disease ” had been read in our home circle, and, as a consequence, 
a mild craze on the subject of bacteria and infusoria possessed most 
of us. Spontaneous generation was demonstrated by our author to 
be an exploded myth. 


378 










THE PLAGUE OF FLIES. 


379 


Upon housewifely fidelity depended the health and comfort of 
the family. Where no dust was, disease-germs were 7 til. When 
our round of exploration was ended, we hugged ourselves in the 
conviction that not a loophole remained unguarded. 

The hot spell in May awoke us rudely from our dream of secu¬ 
rity. If frogs had hopped into our kneading-troughs, or hailstones 
and fire that ran along the ground swept our thoroughfares, we 
could hardly have been more confounded than by ocular proof that 
Mtisca ova by the tens of thousands had lain untouched by broom or 
duster in more-than-ever mysterious “ corners,” and had awakened 
at the call of the south-wind along with violets, tulips and spring 
bonnets. Disdainful of larvae and polywog precedent, each of the 
myriads, for all we could see to the contrary, was hatched full 
grown, with more than the regular number of legs, and a “ staying 
power ” of voracity that would have done credit to a condor. 

They descended and ascended upon us, terrible as an army 
with banners and bagpipes. Their hum above our tables, their 
titillating touch upon our noses and lips in what we could not call 
“sleeping-rooms” after daylight—were tease and torment; the foray 
of legions in the kitchen was disgust and desperation. 

’ Flies and dirt—seen or unseen—are too closely joined together 
in the housekeeper’s mind to be put asunder while reason endures. 
The domestic brigade sprang to arms. Fly-doors were hung in all 
the portals that opened into the outer world ; wire-screens fitted 
into every window ; rooms that always have been clean, were sub¬ 
jected to such scouring and brushing and burnishing as raised them 
above hypercritical suspicion ; cool dusks reigned throughout the 
house while the sun was above the horizon. Each morning, the 
brigade, armed with palm-leaf fans and damp towels, charged upon 
the winged battalions, beat out all that could be expelled from the 
fort, then massacred the stragglers. Each day, forgetful of past 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


380 

disappointment, we panted that at last victory had perched upon 
our dusters. In half an hour, into library, sewing-room, most of 
all, kitchen and dining-room, stole the shrill droning of a hundred 
tiny bagpipes, the slogan of a reconstructed host. We had met the 
enemy and were, as usual, theirs. 

The balloon-shaped fly-trap, made of wire netting, set above a 
saucer containing a seductive mixture of treacle and pepper, slew 
its thousands. We gave them the benefit of no probability of actual 
decease, but cremated the mass, animate and inanimate, “ in one 
red burial blent ” in the kitchen grate. Drowned flies, buried flies, 
flies that have been stunned and crushed, come to life. The tena¬ 
city with which they hold to a vampire-like existence is as mirac¬ 
ulous as their incubation in “ corners ” nobody ever finds. They 
are never fairly dead except in the shape of coal-ashes. 

The clock-work fly-trap revolved by day and by night, and slew 
its ten thousands, until it seemed as if the number consumed must 
make an appreciative difference in the quantity of fuel used per 
diem. 

And still the buzz and tickling and swarming went on. We 
inhaled no air save such as was strained through reticulated wire, 
but the mustering of the Musca myriad was as if the filtered ele¬ 
ment had taken visible and auricular life. The plague was phenom¬ 
enal. Where did they come from ? What did their appearance 
and sojourn portend? We were ashamed with a humiliation every 
properly-trained housewife will comprehend.' But for the danger to 
surrounding buildings, it is possible that we might have lent obe¬ 
dient heed to the proposition of the chief of onr clan, and burned 
down the house to get rid of the flies. 

To ns, in extremity, drifted a newspaper-scrap which was neither 
ofEcial nor judicial. Somebody picked it up somewhere. A drown¬ 
ing man would have caught at it, as we did, had it bobbed at him 


THE PLAGUE OF FLIES. 


3 Sr 

from the crest of the wave. It was not quite explicit in the direc¬ 
tions it conveyed, but we got at the meaning of the extract and put 
it into practice as follows: We had Persian insect powder in the 
house, also the implement, in shape like a big hunting-watch, with 
a small pipe let into one side, with which we had projected the yel¬ 
low dust into corners where might lurk the eggs or pupae of moths. 
This we charged to the nozzle. That night, the kitchen and 
dining-room were cleared of such small articles as would have to be 
washed if the powder fell on them ; windows and doors were made 
fast, and an operator, standing in the middle of the floor, worked 
the spring-top of the round case that expelled the powder, throwing 
it upward at an angle of forty-five degrees, toward every corner 
and side of the apartment. We used a boxful in each room, then 
half as much on each succeeding occasion. The rooms were not 
entered again until morning. 

Cook declared that she swept up “ a full pint of the little bastes.” 
The waitress did not measure her trophies, but reported that floor 
and furniture were strewed with bodies. It was a miniature edition 
of the destruction of Sennacherib by an unseen agent. To make 
sure that our foes were like his army, all dead corpses, we con¬ 
signed them without delay to the crematory. 

This was done on Saturday night; an ineffable peace reigned 
over our Sunday breakfast. 

“It is too good to be true! ” said one. “ I am reverently thank¬ 
ful. I have felt for weeks as if the shadow of Moses’ rod rested on 
our house.” 

Another;—“ The marvel is that Pharoah hardened his heart 
again. I have less respect for his common sense than ever before.” 

Still another:—“ Our text runs in my mind continually :— 
‘ They did take their food with gladness and singleness of heart.’ ” 


382 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Toward evening, the vanquished leaders sent in scouts, few in 
number, and wary, to reconnoiter the battlefield. A repetition of 
the experiment of the preceding evening left not one to carr}" the 
tale. 

If I have told it lightly, it is not because the infliction was not 
grievous, and the deliverance welcome beyond expression. Since 
then, we have held our own successfully in the height of “ fly¬ 
time.” In very hot weather the powder is used every night for a 
week or two at a time ; in ordinary circumstances, and by observing 
common precaution in the matter of screen-doors and darkened 
rooms, twice or three times a week suffice to keep the premises 
clear. While the remedy leaves no trace of its recent presence to 
sight or smell, after the floor is swept and the furniture dusted, we 
have not thought it prudent to use it in bed-chambers. But we 
have learned that kitchen and dining-room are the enemy’s head¬ 
quarters, and that heroic measures here cut off supplies from the 
upper part of the house. 

I shall esteem,^myself happy if this humble sketch may be the 
means of extending the knowledge of a device so simple, yet so 
efficacious, in abating one of the most annoying of minor nuisances 
of daily life in summer weather. 




The Dinner-Pail. 



HILE sitting on the piazza of a house in a New England 
town two or three years ago, a mirthful caprice moved 
me to count what the young people about me named 
the “ pail-brigade.” A few minutes after six o’clock, 


the pleasant street was the thoroughfare to the upper suburbs for 
many of the operatives in a large down-town factory. Out of 150 
of these, 140 carried dinner-pails, 7, baskets, and 3 were empty- 
handed. The question was then suggested and discussed as 
to the superior convenience of the close, airless pail over the basket 
for conveyance of a cold lunch. 

What is known as the “ picnic basket ” is heavy and costly. 
Otherwise, the neat service of plate and china stowed away in 
sockets made fast to the sides and top, would soon drive the 
unsightly tin vessel from the field. A stout willow basket of con¬ 
venient size, with straight sides and a well-fitted cover, can be made 
as commodious by the exercise of a little feminine ingenuity. Let 
inch-wide strips of linen, doubled and stiched at the edges, be 
tacked in loops on the inside, with white flax thread that will 
be scarcely visible on the exterior. In these keep knives, forks, 
spoons, pepper and salt cruets, and napkins. Lay a folded napkin 
in the bottom, another over all, when the provisions are packed in 
the interior; tie the top in place with a bright ribbon or braid, and 




3S4 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


you have what, while it is really a pannier (from the Latin panis — 
bread), might be a pretty hamper of fruit and flowers, such as an 
opulent householder would be willing to carry to a neighbor. Dr. 
Holland’s celebrated essay on The Little Tm Pail^ itiay do much 
to modify the essential commonness of the utensil to those who 
have read it. But it is not false pride that makes a man unwilling 
to proclaim to the street-car and sidewalk public : “I am taking my 
dinner with me to my shop or factory.” The editor does not care to 
wear his pen behind his ear abroad, nor the clergyman his gown and 
bands. Good taste avoids the “ shoppy ” flavor in places of general 
resort. 

The actual drawbacks of the “ little tin pail ” outweigh the 
aesthetic objections. Fresh bread becomes sodden, pastry heavy, 
and the most strongly flavored edible wins the day to the extent of 
steeping all the contents of the vessel in its own odor by dinner¬ 
time. To this are superadded the smell and taste of the unventi- 
lated chamber, large or small, in which provisions are kept. 

Before offering recipes for some of the scores of dainty lunches, 
neither expensive nor difficnlt of preparation, with which the 
monotony of the mid-day meal may be varied, let me enter a plea 
for the stomach of a tired man whose appetite has been dnlled by 
mechanical, in-door toil. He needs a more cunning caterer than 
does he whom fresh air and the fragrance of growing things 
provide with sauce for his daily saleratus biscuit and fat salt 
pork. 

You cannot tempt the artisan with the revelation of hot roast, 
fricassees, and warm vegetables, as he opens pail or hamper, but 
neither need you give him every day slices of cold meat, packed 
between bread and butter “ hunks,” with pickles and pie as after- 
courses. Keep on hand tissue-paper in which to wrap his sand¬ 
wiches ; save up candy and Christmas-boxes for cake ; bny fanciful 


THE DINNER-PAIL. 


385 


(and cheap) flasks and cruets for condiments. See that he has a 
clean napkin daily—not a cere-cloth in which the dead smell of 
yesterday’s lunch is enfolded. In hot weather, tell him to buy 
ice at noon for the bottle of sugared tea or cafe an lait you have 
put in cold, lest the warmth should melt butter and soften meat. 

The sandwich family is most useful and popular when the 
business of the hour is the preparation of a portable lunch. The 
general directions for sandwich manufacture are the same in all 
cases. Butter the end of the loaf smoothly, slice thin with a keen 
knife, and pare off the crust. Cut in triangles, or in long, narrow 
strips, or give the full size of the loaf-slice, as you like. Lay the 
filling thickly on the buttered side of one piece, and press the fel¬ 
low, buttered side inward, gently upon it. Make all into uni¬ 
form shape and dimensions, that you may pile them into a neat parcel. 

Ham Sandwiches. 

Chop the meat, lean and fat, fine; season with pepper, and if 
agreeable, a very little mustard. The yolks of two or three hard- 
boiled eggs, minced and worked in with the meat, make a pleasant 
change. 

Cheese and Egg Sandwiches. 

Grate the cheese, and to each cupful add the yolks of three 
hard-boiled eggs, minced fine ; rub to a paste with a teaspoonful of 
butter, season to taste with salt and pepper, and spread between 
buttered bread or crackers. These are nice made of graham bread. 


Sardine Sandwiches. 

Wash the oil from a dozen sardines, wipe them dry, take out 
the back-bones, and scrape with a knife and fork to a paste; season 
with pepper and lemon-juice, and lay between buttered slices of bread. 





386 


HOUSE AND HOME. 

Bacon and Mutton Sandwiches. 

Fry slices of breakfast-bacon in tbeir own fat, and let tbem get 
cold ; slice cold mutton, lamb or veal tbin, pepper lightly, and lay 
on a buttered slice of bread; on the meat one or two bits of bacon, 
and cover with the fellow-slice of bread and butter. Proceed thus 
until all the materials are used up. 


Cracker and Anchovy Sandwiches. 

These are rather an “ appetizer,” than substantial food. Toast 
split Boston crackers or whole “ snow-flakes ” lightly ; butter while 
hot, and when cool, spread with anchovy paste. Put together of 
course, with the butter and paste inside. 


Deviled Eggs. 

Boil six eggs hard and throw them into cold water. Divide into 
halves cut crosswise, take out the yolks and rub to a paste with a 
generous teaspoonful of butter. Season with pepper, salt and a 
suspicion of mustard. 

Mold into balls the size and shape of the abstracted yolks, put 
back into the hollowed whites, fit the halves neatly together and 
roll each egg up in tissue paper, as you would a bon-bon, twisting 
the paper at the ends. If you wish to make the entree ornamental, 
fringe the squares of paper before enveloping the eggs. They are 
yet more savory if you have some minced giblets (boiled and cold) 
to mix with the yolks, and a little gravy with which to moisten the 
paste. 


Chicken Salad. 

A can of boned chicken will make enough for two days. Mince 
coarsely, season with pepper and salt, and pack into a small bowl 





THE DINNER-PAIL. 


387 


or cup. In another, put some crisp lettuce-leaves with a small 
lump of ice, tie a piece of cloth over the top, paper over this, and 
set securely in the bottom of the basket. Pour a few spoonfuls of 
Durkee’s incomparable salad-dressing into a wide-mouthed phial, 
and cork it. With this, send thin slices of buttered bread, and 
instrnct 3'’our John to drain the lettuce at lunch-time, and after 
lining the bowl with the leaves, to put the chicken on them, and 
pour the dressing upon the chicken. 


Galantine. 

A recipe for this was given in No. 5 Spring. It is spicily 
tempting to a hungry man, easily made, and keeps well. 


Fruit. 

Instead of the blunt triangle of leathery pie which will emerge 
from nineteen out of twenty dinner pails opened by his comrades, 
provide John with fresh fruit in its season. 

Oranges, bananas and grapes cost no more than pie ; apples, 
berries, and, in summer, peaches, less, when the original price is 
counted. If we estimate the ruin wrought upon digestion by pastry 
and doughnuts, we are ready to affirm that he could better afford 
hot-house fruits at their dearest, than to satisfy the cravings of 
nature with these home-made “ delicacies.” 


Bread. 

Do not butter bread or biscuits while hot, for John’s luncheon, 
or put then in his pail or (basket) until they are quite cold. 
Always give him crackers and cheese to aid digestion and “ top-off” 
the repast. 





388 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Pickled Oysters, 

in their season, are not an expensive article of diet. A quart at 
forty cents, put up by yourself in ten minutes’ time, at a cost of 
perhaps five cents for vinegar and spices, will make a couple of 
delightful lunches, with what the French call “ bread at discretion,” 
and for dessert, a couple of baked apples, with or without sugar and 
cream. 



V 


I 


< 


'I 




Autumn Bills of Fare. 

No. 26. 

BREAKFAST. 

Wheaten Grits. 

Mutton Chops and Mashed Potatoes. Egg-Gems. 
Cold Bread. Toast. 

Oranges. Coffee. Chocolate. 


Mutton Chops. 

If your butcher has not trimmed the chops into shape, removing 
the skin and most of the fat, do it yourself; then flatten them with 
the broad side of a hatchet. Broil quickly and carefully over a 
clear fire, lifting the gridiron when there is danger of burning. 
Have ready the block-tin platter of a chafing-dish, heaped in the 
middle with mashed potatoes, which have been worked light with 
butter and milk. About this mound arrange the chops, the large 
ends downward, the small ones inclining toward the summit of the 
hillock. Pass currant-jelly with them. 





390 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Egg-Gems. 

Four eggs ; four cups of prepared flour; two cups of milk; one 
tablespoonful of butter chopped into the flonr; one teaspoonful of 
salt sifted with the flour. Whip the yolks thick and smooth, add 
the milk, the whites, finally the flour, stirred in quickly and hard; 
half fill heated gem-pans with the batter, and bake in a quick oven. 
Send to table as soon as they are done. 


LUNCHEON. 

Stewed Lobster. 

Toasted Crackers. Saratoga Potatoes. 

Bread and Butter. Apple Pyramid. 

Light Cakes. 


Stewed Lobster. 

One can of lobster; one cup of good broth, cleared of fat, and 
strained through a cloth ; half a cup of milk ; juice of a lemon ; two 
tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in one of flour; cayenne pepper and 
salt. 

Open the can early in the day, emptying the contents into 
a bowl, and setting this in a cold place. Cut the meat into clean 
dice, heat the broth, seasoned in a saucepan, and, as it boils, lay in 
the lobster; cook ten minutes gently, add the lemon, and cover at 
the side of the range for five minutes. Have the milk hot in a 
farina-kettle, stir it into the floured butter, and cook three minutes. 
Pour the lobster into a deep dish, then, carefully, mixing in well, 
the scalding thickened milk, and serve. 




autumn bills of fare. 


391 


Toasted Crackers. 

Toast split Boston, or whole snowflake crackers quickly and 
lightly on both sides, butter while hot and pass with the lobster. 
Also, lemon cut into eighths. 

Saratoga Potatoes. 

If you have not time to fry these yourself, buy them fresh from 
your grocer. When good, they are really nice. When bad, few 
things more detestable find their way to the tables of civilized peo¬ 
ple. Heat them quickly in the oven and take them out before they 
are brown. Send to table in a deep dish lined with a hot napkin. 


Apple Pyramid. 

Pare, halve and core a dozen fine tart apples, dropping into cold 
water as yon pare them. Have ready in a saucepan two tablespoon¬ 
fuls of melted butter, a cupful of granulated sugar, the strained 
juice of two lemons and a blade of mace. Lay the apples in this, 
coating each piece with the mixture. Cover closely and set in a 
vessel of hot water, which bring to a slow boil. Leave the apples 
on until they are tender and clear; take out with care not to break 
them ; pile them in the form of a cone on a stone china dish ; cover 
with a meringue made by frothing the whites of four eggs, with four 
tablespoonfuls of sugar; pour the syrup around the base and set in 
the oven to color lightly. Eat cold with light cakes. 

DINNER. 

Turnip Puree. 

Boiled Corned Beef. 

Creamed Onions. Tomatoes and Corn. 

Batter Pudding. Cream Sauce. 

Fruit. Coffee. 





392 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Turnip Puree. 

When the corned beef is half done dip out a quart of the liquor, 
cool and skim, and strain it through a thick cloth. Set it over the 
fire with a dozen turnips (white), pared and sliced ; half of a small 
onion, chopped ; a stalk of celery, and boil until soft. Rub through 
a colander back into the liquor; season with pepper and a handful 
of minced parsley, and return to the fire with two tablespoonfuls of 
butter cut up in as much flour. Heat in another vessel half a cup¬ 
ful of milk, with a bit of soda not larger than a pea. When the 
puree has cooked three minutes, stir in the milk and pour into the 
tureen. 


Boiled Corned Beef. 

Let the beef lie in cold water for two hours to draw out the salt. 
Cover it then with plenty of boiling water, and cook fast for fifteen 
minutes. At this point, arrest the boil by pouring in a pint of cold 
water. The advantage of this process is to form a band of cooked 
flesh about the piece to be boiled which will keep in the juices. 
Henceforv^ard, let the boiling be steady and slow, allowing fifteen 
minutes for each pound. When done, lift the pot from the fire, and 
even if the beef is to be served hot, let it stand in the liquor for 
ten minutes before dishing it. If you prefer it cold, leave it still 
longer, and on taking it out, lay a large dish or plate on top, 
with a couple of flat irons or other heavy articles to press it, not 
removing them until the meat is cold and stiff. This should be 
done after dinner when it is ser\^ed hot. Send drawn butter in with 
hot corned beef; also horse-radish. 


Creamed Onions. 

Boil the onions in two waters—hot—putting a little salt in the 
second. If the}^ are full grown they will require at least an hour 




AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


393 


and a half to cook them tender. Drain, and pack them in a bake- 
dish ; pour a cupful of drawn butter, in which milk is used instead 
of water, over them, sprinkle with fine crumbs, pepper and salt 
lightl}^, and bake, covered, fifteen minutes, then brown. There is 
no nicer way of cooking ripe onions than this. 


Tom.atoes and Corn. 

Open a can of com and one of tomatoes early in the day, and 
empty half the contents of each into a bowl, and leave it, uncovered, 
in a cold place, until you are ready to cook it. Put tomatoes and 
corn into a saucepan, and stew gently for twenty minutes. After it 
boils, add a teaspoonful of sugar, half as much salt, and a quarter 
as much pepper, with a tablespoonful of butter; cook five minutes 
longer, and serve in a deep dish. 


Batter Pudding. 

Two even cups of Hecker’s prepared flour; two cups of milk; 
four eggs ; a quarter teaspoonful of salt. 

Beat eggs very light, whites and yolks separately, add the milk 
and salt to the yolks, then whites and flour alternately, pour into a 
buttered mold, and boil or steam for two hours. Eat with cream 
sauce. 


Cream Sauce. 

One cup of sugar; yolks of two eggs ; one-half cupful of milk; 
one tablespoonful of butter; one even teaspoonful of arrowroot; 
vanilla flavoring. 





394 


HOUSE AND HOAIE. 


Heat the milk to boiling, stir in the arrowroot, wet up with cold 
milk, and add the butter. Pour this on the beaten yolks and sugar, 
return to the fire, and-stir one minute, just long enough to heat the 
yolks, not to curdle them. Pour into a sauceboat, flavor with a 
teaspoonful of vanilla and set in hot water (not boiling) until you 
are ready for it. 


Fruit. 

It is a pretty custom in some families to have a dish of fruit 
tastefully arranged on the table at every meal. Finger bowls, with 
ornamental doilies between them and the fruit plates, are half filled 
with water and a silver knife laid on each plate, all on the buffet, in 
case they are called for at breakfast and lunch, and are set on the 
table after the dinner-sweets are removed. Nobody is obliged to 
partake of this course, but nearly everybody likes a taste of grateful 
fruit acid to remove the cloyment of puddings, pies, etc., from the 
tongue. 


No. 27. 

BREAKFAST. 

Oatmeal Porridge. Beef Hash au gratin. 

Barbara’s Griddle Cakes. 

Baked Potatoes. Fruit. 

Tea. Coffee. 


Beef Hash mi gratin. 

Chop cold boiled or roast beef quite fine, removing all the string 
and bits of tough skin; salt and pepper it, and mix with one-half 





AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


395 


as much mashed (lumpless) potatoes as you have meat. Put a cup 
of good gravy and half a teaspoonful of mustard into a frying-pan 
with half a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce. If you have no 
gravy, substitute a cup of boiling water and a good spoonful of 
butter, seasoned as above. When the gravy boils, put in the meat 
and potatoes ; toss and stir until it is very hot, and bubbles all over. 
Turn out upon a stone-china dish or the block-tin platter of your 
chafing-dish, strew thickly with fine crumbs, and brown lightly on 
the upper grating of your oven. Serve in the dish. 


Barbara’s Griddle Cakes. 

Two cups of Indian meal; one cup of flour; three eggs ; half a 
teaspoonful of salt; one tablespoonful of lard, and the same of 
molasses; three cups of milk; half a teaspoonful of soda. 

Wet the meal into a good mush with boiling water; cook in a 
farina-kettle for an hour, stirring often ; turn out and beat it smooth. 
Do this over night. In the morning beat in the melted lard, the 
molasses, the eggs, the milk, at last the flour, sifted twice with the 
salt and soda. Beat up well and bake on a greased griddle. 


Baked Potatoes. 

Select large, fine sweet, or Irish potatoes ; wash them and bake 
in their skins in a steady oven until soft, turning them often as 
they cook. Send to table wrapped in a napkin. 


LUNCHEON. 

Oysters in Bed. Fried Pigs’ Feet. 

Deviled Tomatoes. 

Crackers and Cheese. 
Cafe au Lait Cake. 


Bread and Butter. 





396 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Oysters in Bed. 

Cut off the top crust of a dozen stale rolls or biscuits, and scrape 
out the inside, leaving the sides and bottoms intact; set them with 
the crusts laid beside them in a half-open oven to dry and heat. 
Cut four dozen oysters in halves ; put over the fire in their liquor 
to cook ; when they boil add the inside of the rolls, crumbed fine, 
a full tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, and half a cupful of 
hot milk ; cook three minutes longer ; butter the inside of the dried 
rolls, fill with the oyster-mixture, put on the crusts, and serve. 


Fried Pigs’ Feet. 

Boil them slowly in hot water, slightly salted, for three hours, 
or until tender. Take them out of the liquor when cold, not before, 
and lay in enough vinegar and water (half and half), to cover them 
for half a day : wipe; rub with French mustard, pepper, and if 
needed, salt; dip in beaten egg, then in crushed cracker, and fry 
in hot lard. Drain well and eat hot. 


Deviled Tomatoes. 

Peel eight large, fair tomatoes and cut into thick slices. Put into 
a saucepan four tablespoonfuls of vinegar, two of best salad oil, one 
tablespoonful of sugar, a quarter-tablespoonful each, of pepper, 
made mustard and salt. Bring quickly to a boil, and pour hot over 
the tomatoes. Send at once to table. 


Cafe au Lait Cake. 

Three cups of prepared flour; two cups of sugar; four table¬ 
spoonfuls of butter creamed with the sugar ; four eggs ; one cup of 
milk; rub butter and sugar to a cream, beat in the yolks, the milk, 
the whipped whites and flour by turns ; bake in jelly cake tins. 





397 


AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 

Filling for Cake. 

One cup of milk and one of strong, clear coffee, strained ; one cup 
of sugar; two eggs : two tablespoonfuls of com-starch wet with milk; 
scald the milk, add the sugar and corn-starch, and when these 
thicken well, the beaten eggs; cook one minute, beat in the coffee 
and let the mixture get cold before spreading it between the cakes. 


DINNER 

Turnip Puree {without meat). 

Baked Flounder Cutlets. Larded Beef’s Tongue. 

Fried Oyster-Plant. Celery au gratin. 

Mashed Potatoes. Marie’s Pudding. 

Liquid Sauce. Coffee. 


Turnip Puree. 

A dozen large, white turnips; three tablespoonfuls of butter 
rolled in one of flour; a cup of hot milk; pepper; salt; a stalk of 
celery ; two quarts of boiling water. 

Peel and slice the turnips ; boil with the celery in salted water 
until soft; rub through a colander back into the pot with the water 
in which they were cooked; stir in seasoning and floured butter; 
simmer ten minutes, add the hot milk, and turn into the tureen. 


Baked Flounder Cutlets. 

Lay the flsh flat on a dish, and make a deep cut over the back¬ 
bone, which extract neatly; divide the flounders into four pieces 
each; have ready a cupful of skimmed and strained broth, made by 





398 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


boiling a pouiid of fish in a pint of salted water, and when you have 
strained it, stirring in a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, lay 
the cutlets in a dripping pan, cover with this liquor and bake, cov¬ 
ered, half an hour ; sprinkle them with crumbs and brown quickly ; 
remove the cutlets to a hot dish, strain the gravy, add the juice of 
half a lemon, boil up and pour into a boat. . 


Larded Beef’s Tongue. 

Boil a fresh, fine tongue one hour; lay in cold water at once to 
make it firm. When cold, pare off the skin, and lard it diagonally 
from side to side with strips of fat salt pork. Lay it, thus prepared, 
in a pan with half an onion, four or five cloves, a dozen peppercorns, 
and some minced parsley. Dash a large cupful of hot water over 
the tongue ; cover closely and cook gently two hours, turning twice. 
Remove the cover, rub the tongue over with butter, dredge with 
flour, and brown. Lay on a dish, add a little hot water to the 
gravy, strain it, heat again, thicken with browned flour, stir in a 
tablespoonful of capers, boil up and pour into a boat. 


Fried Oyster-Plant. 

Scrape the roots and cut them into pieces an inch and a half 
long, dropping them, as you do so, into ice-water, in which 3^ou have 
mixed a tablespoonful of vinegar. This will prevent discoloration. 
Now boil the pieces in hot, salted water for nearly an hour. Drain 
them and let them cool; dip each piece in a batter made by beating 
up an egg, putting with it half a cup of milk and three tablespoon- 
fnls of prepared flour, salted and peppered. Fry in hot lard, a few 
pieces at a time, drain off the fat and serve on a hot dish lined with 
tissue-paper, fringed at the ends. This vegetable cooked thus tastes 
very much like real fried oysters. Try it. 





AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


399 


Celery au Gratin. 

Scrape, wash and cut the stalks into inch-lengths ; stew gently 
until tender in salted water; drain this off, lay the celery in a bake 
dish, season with salt and pepper, cover with rich drawn butter, strew 
with fine crumbs, and brown lightly. 


Marie’s Pudding. 

Two cups of fine, dry crumbs ; half a cup of currants, washed 
and dried ; half a cup of raisins, seeded and chopped ; a quart of 
milk ; four eggs ; a cup of sugar ; a tablespoonful of butter. 

Soak the crumbs in the milk, beat the eggs light with the sugar, 
and put in next the bttter, melted, then the fruit well dredged with 
flour ; boil in a buttered mold two hours and a half; dip for a 
moment in cold water, to loosen the pudding, and turn out; eat 
with liquid sauce. 


Liquid Sauce. 

Pour a cupful of water into a saucepan, stir in a cupful of 
powdered sugar, a tablespoonful of butter, and a good teaspoonful of 
arrowroot w^et with cold water; season with nutmeg, stir for two 
minutes after it boils, and add a glass of sherry. Send to table hot 
in a sauce-tureen. 


No. 28. 

BREAKFAST. 

Imperial Granum Porridge. 

Stewed Eggs. Risen Muffins. 

Fried Potatoes. Oranges and Bananas. 

Tea. Coffee. 





400 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Imperial Granum Porridge. 

One cup of Imperial Granum; three cups of boiling water; 
one cup of hot milk ; half a teaspoonful of salt. 

Soak the granum iu enough cold water to cover it well for four 
or five hours, or all night, if more convenient; in the morning put 
over the fire in the boiling water, with the salt; cook half an hour, 
stirring often; add the warm milk and stir hard and long; cook 
ten minutes ; beat up well aud pour- out. 


Stewed Eggs. 

Boil eight eggs hard and leave them in cold water until cold; 
take off the shells, slice them, and lay in a stone china or block tin 
dish; pour over them a well-seasoned gravy, thickened with 
browned flour; sift fine crumbs over all and brown in a quick oven. 
They are very savory if properly seasoned. 


Risen Muffins. 

A quart of flour ; two tablespoonfuls of lard, or one of lard and 
one of butter; a pint of milk (a generous one), half a cup of yeast 
dissolved in half a cup of warm water; the yolks of three eggs; 
a teaspoonful of salt. 

Sift the salt with the flour and rub the shortening through it, 
mix the egg aud milk together, wet up the flour, add the yeast, beat 
hard and set to rise over night. In the morning half-fill muf&n 
tins with batter; let it rise for half an hour, and bake. 


LUNCHEON. 

Oysters scalloped with Mushrooms. Fried Apples. 

Mince of Potatoes and Corn. Brown Bread and Butter. 

Crackers. Cheese. Olives. Jelly Roll. 





AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


401 


Oysters Scalloped with Mushrooms. 

A quart of oysters; half a can of mushrooms; a heaping 
tablespoonful of butter ; pepper, salt and cracker-crumbs ; a cup of 
rich milk; one beaten egg. 

Lay a stratum of oysters in a buttered bake-dish, season with 
pepper and salt, sprinkle with chopped mushrooms ; cover with 
crumbs wet with milk and dotted with butter ; proceed in this order 
until the dish is full; the topmost layer should be quite moist with 
milk, in which an egg has been beaten, and seasoned well with 
pepper, salt and butter. Bake, covered, thirty minutes, then brown. 
Pass crackers and lemon with it. 


Fried Apples. 

Peel and cut into eighths, taking out the seeds and core care¬ 
fully from each piece; heat some butter in a frying-pan; coat the 
apples lightly with flour, and fry to a pale brown ; drain off the fat 
from each slice, sprinkle with sugar and pile on a hot dish ; if you 
like, you may mix a little cinnamon with the sugar; use only tart 
apples for frying. Send around slices of buttered brown-bread with 
them. 


Mince of Potatoes and Corn. 

Chop cold boiled potatoes into dice, drain off the liquor from 
half a can of corn, boil ten minutes in salted water, and let the corn 
cool; mix well with the potatoes, seasoning with pepper and salt. 
Put three or four tablespoonfuls of nice dripping in a frying-pan, 
and when it boils, stir iu the corn and potatoes with a fork, tossing 
about until they are thoroughly heated." Serve in a hot, covered 
dish. Cold potatoes and stewed corn “ left over,” will do for this 
dish. 




402 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Jelly Roll. 

One and a-half cups of prepared flour; one cup of powdered 
sugar ; four eggs ; lialf cup of milk ; one tablespoonful of butter; 
jelly. 

Rub butter and sugar together, add the beaten yolks, the milk, 
then whipped whites and flour, lightly and quickly. Bake in a 
large buttered pan; turn out on a clean, damp cloth, spread with 
jelly, and roll up closely upon it. 


DINNER. 

Lima Bean Soup. Curried Chicken Pie. 

Stewed Cabbage. Fried Celery. Potatoes Boiled Whole. 

Sweet Potato Pie. Fruit. Coffee. 


Lima Bean Soup. 

Two quarts of soup stock ; one quart of Lima beans ; if dried, 
soak them all night, putting a bit of soda in the water; two eggs; 
half-cupful of corn meal scalded to a soft mush ; two tablespoonfuls 
of minced parsley; pepper; salt; two stalks of celery; half an 
onion, sliced and fried to a nice brown in the butter or dripping. 

The liquor in which corned beef was boiled will do nicely for 
the “ stock.” In that case, put no salt in the soup. Put all the 
ingredients except the eggs together in the soup-kettle and cook 
slowly until the beans are very soft; rub through a colander, season* 
to taste, return to the soup pot, and when it boils, stir in the beaten 
eggs; pour into the tureen, lay on the surface some thin slices of 
lemon from which the peel has been cut, and serve. 




AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 
Curried Chicken Pie. 


403 


Joint a pair of tender chickens as for fricassee ; roll in flour and 
fry in dripping or lard until they begin to brown ; put into a deep 
bake-disb a layer of tbe fowl, cover with thin slices of fat salt pork. 
Have ready two cupfuls of boiled rice in which have been worked a 
tablespoonful of butter and two even teaspoonfuls of curry-powder; 
cover the chicken with some of this ; put in more fowl and pork, 
more rice, etc. When all are in, pour in a cupful of broth made by 
stewing the feet, necks and pinions of the chickens in a pint of 
water, then straining and seasoning it. Cover the whole with a good 
crust, cut a slit in the middle; bake, covered, forty minutes, and 
brown nicely. Wash the crust with beaten white of egg. 


Stewed Cabbage. 

Shred a cabbage with a keen knife ; put over the fire in plenty 
of boiling water, slightly salted, with a bit of soda in it, and cook 
for twenty minutes; drain off the water and put in just enough 
fresh and boiling to cover it. Cook ten minutes ; add two table- 
spoonfuls of vinegar, a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, 
pepper and salt. Stew ten minutes longer, and turn out. 


Fried Celery. 

Cut firm, white celery into pieces two inches long ; put on to 
boil in hot salted water, and cook twenty minutes ; take up with a 
split spoon and drop into ice-water. Leave them there ten minutes ; 
take out, lay between two cloths and pat dry; spread on a dish to 
cool; sprinkle with salt and pepper, dip each piece in egg, then in 
fine cracker crumbs, and fry in clarified dripping or salted lard. 
Drain well, and serve hot. 




404 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Sweet Potato Pie. 

Parboil firm sweet potatoes and let them get cold with the skins 
on ; peel them, then, and slice crosswise. Have ready a pie-dish lined 
with a good crust (it never pays to make any other); put in a layer 
of sliced potatoes, sprinkle well with sugar, and drop bits of butter 
here and there ; allow a teaspoonful of brandy and five cloves to 
each layer; also, a dozen or so drops of lemon juice ; more potatoes ; 
sugar, butter, brandy, cloves and lemon juice until the dish is full. 
Put in two tablespoonfuls of water and cover all with pastry. Cut 
a slit in the top, and bake. Eat cold with powdered sugar sprinkled 
over the top, and accompanied with good old cheese. There are 
not many more delightful pies than is this old Virginia dessert 
when properly made. The potatoes should be dry and sweet, the 
seasoning judicious. 

I have heard that Irish potato pie is good made after the same 
receipt, but I prefer to wait for something more than hearsay 
evidence before recommending it. It would certainly require much 
more sugar than sweet potatoes, and very skillful “ trimmings ” 
altogether. 


No. 29 . 

BREAKFAST, 


Rye Porridge. 
Flannel Cakes. 

Coffee. 


Kidneys and Ham. 
Toast. Boiled Eggs. 

Tea. Fruit. 


Rye Porridge. 

One cup of rye meal; three large cups of boiling water, and one 
of hot milk; one teaspoonful of salt. 




AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


405 


When the salted water reaches the boil, stir in the meal; cook 
one hour after the water in the outer vessel begins to bubble again, 
add the hot milk, and simmer five minutes before turning out. 


Kidneys and Ham. 

Split each kidney lengthwise and cleanse from fat and strings. 
Have as many slices of cold boiled ham, fat and lean together, as 
you have pieces of kidney, cutting them into pieces of the same 
breadth and length. String half kidneys and bits of ham alter¬ 
nately on slender skewers, a piece of ham at each end. When the 
skewers are full, broil over a clear fire for eight minutes, turning 
often ; lay the skewers in a row on a hot dish, pepper, salt, and baste 
with butter before sending to table. 


Flannel Cakes (without eggs). 

One quart of milk ; one cup of cornmeal, and nearly three of 
flour; half cake of yeast stirred in a half-cup of warm water; one 
large cup of boiling ‘water; one teaspoonful of salt; one tea¬ 
spoonful of molasses ; bit of soda the size of a pea in the milk. 

Scald the meal in the boiling water, stir in the milk, and strain 
through a colander, add flour and yeast, and let it rise until morn¬ 
ing ; beat in salt and molasses, and, when the batter is smooth and 
light, bake on a griddle. They are very nice. 


LUNCHEON. 

Beef Scallop. Cheese-Fingers. 

Fried Potatoes. Brown Bread and Butter. 

Doughnuts. Tea. 





4o6 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Beef Scallop. 

Two cups of cold, underdone roast beef; one cup of raw pota¬ 
toes, cut into dice; two beaten eggs ; mustard; pepper; salt; a 
teaspoonful of finely minced onion ; one cupful of gravy or stock. 

Peel and cut the potatoes, lay them in cold water for half an 
hour, drain, cover them with boiling, salted water and stew gently 
ten minutes ; drain off the water, add the gravy and the beef 
chopped fine, cook slowly for ten minutes, turn into a bowl, beat in 
the eggs, the onion, salt, pepper and mustard, put into a greased 
bake-dish, strew crumbs on top, bake, covered, half an hour, then 
brown. 


Cheese Fingers. 

This is a good way to use up ‘scraps of pastry left over from 
baking pies. Cut into strips as long as your middle finger, and 
twice as wide ; strew with dry, grated cheese, a little salt, and just 
a pinch of cayenne ; double them lengthwise ; pinch the edges 
together along their length, sprinkle more cheese upon them and 
bake quickly; pile within a napkin on a hot dish, and serve at 
once. 


Doughnuts. 

Two cups of milk ; one cup of sugar; one quart of flour; three 
eggs ; a teaspoonful of salt; one-half of a yeast cake ; one full table¬ 
spoonful of butter; half teaspoonful of mixed cinnamon and mace ; 
bit of soda in the milk. 

Heat the milk and stir in the sugar and butter; while it is cool¬ 
ing, sift the salt twice in the flour and dissolve the yeast-cake in a 
little warm water. Mix all while the milk is blood-warm, and let 
the dough rise till morning. Then work in the whipped eggs; 




AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


407 


knead the soft dough for one minute, and set for the second rising; 
it should be ver}'’ light before you roll it out into a sheet and cut it 
into shapes; after cutting them, let them stand half an hour and 
fry in plenty of hot lard; in frying doughnuts, always put them 
into the kettle with the side downward that was uppermost on the 
dish from which you take them ; they rise better thus ; fish out 
when done with a split spoon, and put in a hot colander, sifting 
powdered sugar over them while warm. 


DINNER. 

• Turnip Soup. Deviled Oysters. 

Braised Beef. Spinach on Toast. Fried Parsnips. 

iMashed Potatoes. Cup Plum Pudding. 

Fruit. Coffee. 

Turnip Soup (without meat). 

Eight or ten large white turnips ; half an onion, sliced and fried 
to a light brown ; one stalk of celery ; one pint of milk ; one table- 
spoonful of minced parsley; one tablespoonful of flour rolled in 
three tablespoonfuls of butter ; two quarts of water; bit of soda in 
milk. 

Peel, slice, and lay the turnips in cold water for an hour, drain 
and put in the soup kettle with the fried onion, celery and parsley ; 
add the cold water, and cook all tender; rub the soup through a 
colander, season, and return to the fire; stir in the buttered flour, 
simmer five minutes, add the milk and pour out. 


Deviled Oysters. 

Wipe large, “ frying size ” oysters dry, and lay in a mixture made 
b}’ allowing the juice of a lemon to two tablespoonfuls of butter, a 







4c8 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


little salt and a pinch of cayenne. Turn the oysters over and over 
in this, then in fine crumbs, and broil on a w.ire broiler over a clear 
fire. Serve hot. 


Braised Beef. 

Put a brisket of beef into a broad-bottomed pot and set it over 
the fire. At the end of ten minutes- turn it, and again in ten 
minutes more. Repeat this once more for each side; then pour in 
two cups of boiling water, fit on a close top and cook slowly one 
hour before turning the meat. After this, cook an hour longer if 
the meat weighs seven or eight pounds—keeping the top on. Set 
the beef in the oven, sift flour over it, baste freely with the gravy, 
and brown for five or six minutes before dishing. Skim and season 
the gravy, thicken with browned flour and serve in a boat. 

Spinach on Toast. 

Pick the leaves over carefully, rejecting the stems, wash and 
put into a saucepan, with a cup of water to a half-peck of leaves. 
Cover, and cook for twenty minutes, drain and chop it as fine as 
possible ; put back over the fire, and beat in a tablespoonful of but¬ 
ter, a teaspoonful of sugar, salt, pepper, a dash of nutmeg and the 
juice of half-a-lemon. Whip smooth and press hard into heated 
egg or custard cups to mold it. Have ready crustless rounds of 
toast, buttered well, on a heated platter. Turn out a mold of spin¬ 
ach on each, and put a slice of hard-boiled egg on the top of the mold. 

Fried Parsnips. 

Scrape, and leave in cold water for an hour, then cook half an 
hour in hot, salted water, wipe, slice lengthwise, dip in melted 
butter, then in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and fry in boil¬ 
ing dripping. Drain free of fat, and dish. 





AUTUMN BIUUS OF FARE. 409 

Cup Plum Pudding. 

Two cups of fine, dry crumbs; one cup of flour; one cup of 
milk ; one cup of sugar; half cup of molasses ; one cup of raisins, 
stoned and chopped, and the same of currants ; half cup of sliced 
citron ; half cup of powdered suet; four eggs ; one teaspoonful 
mixed cinnamon and allspice ; one even teaspoonful of soda, sifted 
twice with the flour. 

Beat the eggs light, add molasses, milk, suet, crumbs, sugar, 
spice, fruit (dredged with flour), mix well; turn into a buttered 
mold and boil five hours. Eat with both hard and liquid sauce. 


Oatmeal Porridge. 

Corn Bread. 
Graham Bread. 
Fruit. 


No. 30. 

BREAKFAST. 

Deviled Rabbit. 
Lyonnaise Potatoes. 

White Bread sliced thin. 
Tea. Coffee. 


Oatmeal Porridge. 

Half a pint of oatmeal—full measure ; one quart of boiling water, 
salted slightly. 

If the meal is not steam-cooked, soak all night in enough cold 
water to cover it. In the morning stir into the boiling water, beat¬ 
ing up w’ell for a whole minute. Cook in a farina kettle. Do not 
leave the spoon in or stir it every few minutes, as the manner of 
some is. Four good stirs are sufficient, but they must be thorough. 
Keep covered, and boil steadily for an hour, and as much longer as 
you like. Serve in a deep dish and eat with cream, and, if desired. 


sugar. 




410 


HOUSE AND HOME. 
Deviled Rabbit. 


Skin and dress the rabbit, taking especial care to clean it well. 
This part of the business is often done in a disgracefully slovenly 
way. Eay it on the side in a dripping pan, pour a cupful of boiling 
water over it, cover with another pan and bake, basting often 
with the hot water in the lower pan until tender. Uncover then, 
and lay on a hot dish to keep warm while you make the sauce. 
Mix in a cup three tablespoonfuls of vinegar, one tablespoonful of 
butter, rolled in one of browned flour, half a teaspoonful of mus¬ 
tard and a good pinch of cayenne. Salt to taste—about half a tea¬ 
spoonful. Strain the gravy left in the baking pan into a 
saucepan, add the vinegar, etc., and stir to a sharp boil. Pour over 
the rabbit gradually, turning and lifting it that the sauce may soak 
in well, cover, and set in the oven until very hot. Five minutes 
should be enough if the oven is good. Send to table in the chafing- 
dish in which it was kept hot. 


Corn Bread. 

One cup of white cornmeal, and the same of flour; one cup of 
fresh milk ; one-half cup of sugar ; half teaspoonful of salt; one 
teaspoonful of soda and two of cream of tartar sifted with meal and 
flour ; two eggs beaten light; one tablespoonful of butter. 

Rub butter and sugar together to a cream ; add the eggs ; when 
these are beaten in, add the milk, the salt, and lastly the flour, which 
should have been sifted twice with the meal, soda and cream of tar¬ 
tar. Beat hard one minute, turn into a shallow baking pan, well 
greased, and set at once in a steady oven. When done (test with a 
straw run into the thickest part) cut into squares and serve. 



AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 
Lyonnaise Potatoes. 


411 


Slice cold, boiled potatoes. Have ready in a frying-pan a great 
spoonful of nice dripping or of butter. Into this, when hot, put a 
tablespoonful of finely minced onion, pepper and salt, lightly, and 
fry to a light brown. Then add potatoes, and stir gently with a 
fork, not to break them, until very hot. Lastly, put in a full tea- 
spoonful of minced parsley; toss together with a fork and serve 
very hot. 


LUNCHEON. 

Veal and Ham Croquettes. Baked Sweet Potatoes. 
Apple Sauce. Sponge Cake. Bread and Butter. 

Crackers and Cheese. Tea. 


Veal and Ham Croquettes. 

Mix the remnants of cold roast or fried veal, chopped, with 
one-third as much cold boiled ham, also minced. Leave out bits of 
skin and gristle. Season with pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. The 
ham supplies salt. Work in one-fourth as much bread crumbs as 
there is meat; wet slightly with gravy or drawn butter; add a beaten 
egg; make into rolls the length of your middle finger and a third 
as thick ; roll in beaten egg, then in cracker dust, and set in a very 
cold place for half an hour. It is even better to make the croquettes 
several hours before cooking them, not rolling them in egg and 
cracker until you are quite ready to fry them. Have dripping 
enough in frying pan to cover them entirely. This is what is called 
“ frying in deep fat.” When it is hissing hot, put in a few at a 
time (first testing the heat with one) and fry to a light brown. 




412 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Turn carefully as they cook, to keep them round. As each is done 
take up with a split spoon and lay in a hot colander to drain off the 
fat. Lay neatly on a heated dish, and garnish with parsley. 


Baked Sweet Potatoes. 

Select those of uniform size, wash, wipe, and lay in a baking- 
pan. Set in a good oven and bake until the largest “ gives ” when 
pinched. Turn several times while baking, that the lower sides 
may not bum. Wrap in a napkin and serve on a hot dish. 


Apple Sauce. 

Pare and slice j nicy, tart apples ; put into a tinned or porcelain- 
lined vessel, pour in half a cup of water to prevent scorching, and 
cook gently until tender and broken to pieces. Turn ont into a 
bowl, sweeten abundantly, and rub through a clean colander. Set 
away to cool. 

Sponge Cake. 

Six eggs ; the weight of the eggs in powdered sugar; half the 
weight of the eggs in prepared flour; one lemon, juice and rind. 

Beat whites and yolks separately and very light. When the 
yolks are smooth, beat in the sugar, then the juice of the lemon in 
which the grated peel has stood fifteen minutes or more, then been 
strained out through a cloth. Now stir in the whites, and, last of 
all, the prepared flour as quickly and lightly as will suffice to mix 
all into a light batter. Butter a mold and bake it, covering with 
paper as soon as it has puffed up to the desired height and is crusted 
over. Test with a straw to see if it is done, and bake steadily 
rather than fast. There is no better receipt than this simple one 
for sponge cake. A little practice will soon make you an adept in 
preparing it. 





AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 

DINNER. 


413 


Clear Soup. Creamed Lobster. 

Stewed Beefsteak. Cauliflower. Potatoes in Cases. 

Horse Radish. Burnt Custard. Light Cakes. 
Fruit. Coffee, 


Clear Soup. 

Ask your butcher to send you six pounds of beef-shin and a 
knuckle of veal weighing half as much, and to crack the bones and 
joints faithfully. Put these over the fire with eight quarts of cold 
water; cover and set at the back of the range until the water is hot. 
Bring forward and increase the heat. When the scum rises, take it 
off and keep the soup at a slow bubble for three hours. Throw in 
three dozen whole black peppers, and half the number of whole- 
cloves and boil —always slowly —for three hours more. Do this the 
day before the soup is to be eaten. Turn out the contents of the pot 
into a crock or bowl, and let all stand together nntil next day 
when yon have salted to taste. The fat will rise to the top over 
night in a solid cake. Remove every particle of it and set by for 
dripping. Return bones and liquor to the fire, and when hot, strain 
through a colander into a crock. This is “ soup stock,” and if kept 
in a cool place, will remain good for days in winter. For the clear 
soup of to-day, dip out a quart, heat slowly to a boil, dropping in 
a quarter-onion as it heats, and when-it simmers, the white and shell 
of an egg, stirred in until it coagulates. Stir again and again, that 
it may not “ catch ” on the bottom, and boil steadily—not fast— 
for five minutes. Strain without squeezing, throngh a thick cloth 
into a clean pot, boil np again, add half a teaspoonful of Worcester¬ 
shire sauce and a teaspoonful of celery extract, and serve. The 
“ stock ” will serve as a foundation for many varieties of soups. 



414 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Creamed Lobster. 

Meat of oue lobster, or a can of preserved lobster or crab; one 
cup of creamy milk (all-cream is best) ; oue lialf-cup of cracker- 
crumbs ; two tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in flour ; pepper, cay¬ 
enne and salt; half a cup of bread-crumbs. 

Strain off the lobster-liquor, if 3^011 use the canned fish ; cut 
the meat into small dice with a sharp knife, season, and set aside 
while you heat the milk, or cream in a farina kettle, dropping in a 
tiny bit of soda. When it is hot, stir in the butter cut up in a table¬ 
spoonful of flour and, as this begins to thicken, the lobster. Have 
ready buttered silver, or china, or earthen scallop-shells, fill with 
the mixture, strew fine, dr}’' crumbs on top, and brown in a quick 
oven. Send around sliced lemon with the shells, and crackers. 


Stewed Beefsteak. 

Drain the liquor from a can of tomatoes, then strain it through 
coarse muslin into a dripping-pan. La}’- the steak in this, turning 
it over twice to wet both sides. If there is not enough juice to cover 
it well, add cold water. Invert a pan over it to keep in the steam, 
and set in a slow oven. Cook tender, turning the steak over twice 
an hour, and, should the liquor leave it uncovered, pour in a little 
hot water. Stew slowly for at least two hours-and-a-half. Transfer 
the meat to a hot platter, pepper, salt and butter, cover closely, and 
set over hot water. Skim the gravy well. Put the pan containing 
it on the top of the stove, add a tablespoonful of minced onion, a 
tablespoonful of butter rolled in one of browned flour, and boil up, 
stirring all the time. Then, put in the tomatoes from which the 
juice was strained, simmer three minutes or until they are scalding 
hot. Take up the tomatoes and lay around the steak; strain the 



AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


4^5 


gravy through a soup sieve into a bowl; pour half over the steak, 
the rest into a boat. This is a good way of cooking a tough steak. 


Cauliflower. 

Cut away the leaves and the stalk close to the body of the cauli¬ 
flower ; lay in cold water half an hour, tie in coarse mosquito 
netting and boil in hot, salted water, changing this for water from 
the kettle at the end of fifteen minutes. Salt this also and slightly. 
In twenty minutes more, if the cauliflower be not large and is fresh, 
take it from the fire, remove the netting, lay in a dish and pour a 
good drawn butter over it. Some add the juice of a lemon to the 
drawn butter. 

Potatoes in Cases. 

Bake fine, large potatoes until soft. Cnt a cap from the top 
of each, scoop ont the contents without breaking the skin ; beat the 
potato light with butter and milk, salting to your liking, retnm to 
the skins, filling each so full that the creamed potato protrudes 
from the top; set in a quick oven to brown lightly, and arrange, 
open ends up, upon a flat dish. 

Horse Radish. 

Grate and keep in vinegar as a condiment for beef. 


Burnt Custard. 

Five eggs ; one quart of milk, with a tablespoonful of com-starch 
stirred in ; fivetablespoonfuls of sugar; two teaspoonfuls of 
vanilla extract. 

Beat the eggs light with the sugar; heat the milk to scalding in 
a farina kettle, pour on the eggs, flavor and turn into a buttered 






4i6 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


bowl or mold; set this in a pan of boiling water, and this in the 
oven. Now cover the top of the mold with a plate or a tin pan 
or a pot lid, and bake until well-set, even in the middle. Take from 
the oven, dip the mold in cold water, taking care not to let any get 
into the custard; run a knife around the edge to loosen the pudding, 
and turn out cautiously upon a hot plate. Have ready to pour over it 
half a cup of caramel made by putting half a cup of sugar over a fire 
in a tin cup, and when it is all one brown bubble, adding a table¬ 
spoonful of boiling water, and stirring it on the range until it boils 
again. Strain it over the custard. 


Light Cakes. 

Pretty fancy cakes may be contrived by making a good cup 
cake, baking it in square pans, and when cool, cutting it into 
oblong or square pieces, and icing these on top and sides. 


No. 31. 

BREAKFAST. 

Hominy. Breaded Scallops. 

Potato Drop-Cakes. Peach Short-cake. 

Cold Bread, white and brown. 

Fruit. Tea. Coffee. 


Breaded Scallops. 

Lay the fish on a clean cloth, and cover with another, pressing 
gently on the upper to rid them of moisture. Dip in beaten egg, 
then in fine cracker-crumbs, and fry in hot lard or dripping. Take 
up in a split spoon, shake off the fat, and serve on a hot dish with 
a border of water-cresses. 





AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


417 


Potato Drop Cakes. 

Two cupfuls of mashed potatoes, add two cupfuls of warm milk, 
a tablespoonful of melted butter, two beaten eggs, half a cupful of 
prepared flour and half a teaspoonful of salt. Beat the whole hard 
and drop in great spoonfuls on a greased griddle. Serve very hot 
as soon as they are baked. 

Peach Shortcake. 

One quart of prepared flour; two cups of milk, blood warm ; two 
tablespoonfuls of lard and one of butter; half a teaspoonful of salt; 
one can of peaches. 

Rub or chop the shortening into the salted flour, wet with the 
milk, and roll into a sheet half an inch thick. Line a broad, shallow 
baking pan with half of this ; drain the liquor from the peaches, lay 
them out on a cloth to get rid of all the juice that will come away ; 
put them in a thick layer on the paste in the pan, strew with sugar, 
cover with the reserved crust, and bake in a good, not too hot oven. 
When done, cut in squares and pile on a plate. Split and eat with 
butter and sugar. 

LUNCHEON. 

Scotch Herrings. Hashed Potatoes. 

Cold Beefs Heart. Crackers. Cheese. Olives. 

Sponge, or Plain Cake Fritters. Cocoa-theta. 


Scotch Herrings. 

Lay them on a pie plate, cover closely, and set in the oven until 
very hot. Butter each lightly, pepper, and squeeze a few drops of 
lemon juice on it. Serve on a heated platter, and pass toasted and 
buttered crackers with them. 





4i8 house and home. 

Hashed Potatoes. 

Cut cold boiled potatoes into dice, pepper and salt lightly, and 
add a cupful of milk for each pint of chopped potatoes. Turn into 
a farina-kettle, and cook until scalding hot. Add a teaspoonful of 
butter rolled in half as much flour, and a teaspoonful of minced 
parsley. Cook until the milk thickens, and dish. 


Cold Beef’s Heart. 

Wash the heart well and soak for half an hour in cold, salted 
water. Wipe and stuff the orifices well with a forcemeat of bread¬ 
crumbs, fat salt pork, minced fine, and a little onion, chopped and 
seasoned with pepper. Sew up in coarse muslin fitted to the shape 
of the heart, put on to boil in cold, salted water, with a tablespoonful 
of vinegar to the quart. Boil slowly two hours, turning several 
times. Put under a heavy weight when done, and leave it for twelve 
hours. Take off the cloth then, and your cold entree is ready. Slice 
crosswise. 


Sponge Cake Fritters. 

Cut inch-thick slices of stale sponge or very plain cake, and fry 
quickly in sweet lard. As each slice browns, take it up and dip for 
a hasty second in boiling milk, spread at once with sauce made by 
rubbing a tablespoonful of butter to a cream, with nearly a cupful 
of powdered sugar and the juice of a lemon. Pile the slices on a 
hot plate and keep hot in the oven until served. 


DINNER. 

Chicken and Sago Broth. Mutton and Macaroni. 
Spinach. Dundee Haggis. Rice Cream. 
Fruit. Coffee.' 





AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 419 

Chicken and Sago Broth. 

Three pints of liquor in which a chicken has been boiled ; half 
cupful of German sago ; two cups of milk ; three eggs ; two table- 
spoonfuls of minced parsley; pepper and salt. 

Soak the sago four hours in enough cold water to cover it, then add 
it to the liquor, which should have been strained and skimmed, and 
put over the fire in a farina kettle. Heat to boiling, b}^ which time 
the sago should be dissolved. Heat the milk in a separate vessel 
and pour, scalding hot, on the heated yolks ; add (with a pinch of 
soda) to the sago broth ; season, stir for five minutes ; beat in the 
frothed whites and parsley, and turn out. 


Mutton and AIacaroni. 

Cover the bottom of a wide kettle with chopped salt pork. Lay 
on this a breast or shoulder of mutton—not too fat. Peel a lemon, 
slice thin and lay over the meat, then, more sliced pork, a little 
chopped onion and parsley, with a sprig of mint, if you can get it. 
Pour over all two cups of boiling water. Cover with a close lid, 
and cook gently for two hours, turning the meat once. Have ready 
half a pound of macaroni broken into inch-long pieces which has 
been cooked twenty minutes in boiling, salted water. Drain it, toss 
a tablespoonful of butter through it with a fork, pepper and salt it, 
and make into a flat mound on a platter. Strain the liquor from 
the mutton, add to it half a cup of stewed and strained tomato, 
thicken with browned flour and boil up sharply, settle the meat on 
the macaroni, and pour the sauce over both. 


Spinach. 

Wash and pick off the leaves ; put them in a saucepan with¬ 
out water and set in a kettle of boiling water. Cook slowly for' 




420 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


fifteen minutes, then boil for twenty more. Turn into a colander, 
drain, and rub through the holes into a bowl. Return to the sauce¬ 
pan and outer vessel of boiling water, add a tablespoonful of butter, 
a little salt and pepper, half a teaspoonful of sugar and three 
tablespoonfuls of milk. Heat and beat to a cream. Heap on 
buttered rounds of toast, with a slice of hard-boiled egg on each. 


Dundee Haggis. 

One quart of milk; one cup of oatmeal, soaked over night in 
cold water; one heaping cupful of cold veal, mutton or poultry ; 
one cup of broth from your stewed mutton; half a cupful of 
bread-crumbs; one tablespoonful of butter ; three beaten eggs ; 
pepper and salt. 

Stir the skimmed and strained gravy into soaked oatmeal, season, 
and cook in a farina-kettle for an hour before adding the milk in 
which the bread-crumbs must have been soaked ; cook half an hour, 
stirring often, and turn the mixture into a bowl to get perfectly 
cold; then beat in the butter, melted, the chopped meat, the beaten 
eggs, and mix thoroughly ; pour into a buttered mold, and boil or 
steam for an hour and a half. If you have the giblets of poultry, 
or part of a calf’s or lamb’s liver, you may substitute these for the 
minced meat. Turn out and eat hot. 


Rice Cream. 

One scant cup of rice ; one heaping cup of sugar ; one quart of 
milk ; one-third package of gelatine ; one pint of whipped cream ; 
teaspoonful of bitter almond or vanilla essence. 

Boil the rice tender, drain off the water and stir the rice into 
the scalding milk with the sugar ; bring to a boil, and put in the 
gelatine soaked soft in enough cold water to cover it. When this 





AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


421 


has dissolved, strain the mixture through a fine colander, and beat 
for three minutes with’ the “ Dover.” Flavor, and set aside until 
cold, when whip in the stiffened cream. Let it form in a wet mold; 
keep it on ice until wanted. It is very good. 


No. 32 

BREAKFAST. 

Oranges. 

Pork Chops, with Tomato Sauce. 

Crumb Griddle Cakes. Maple Syrup. 

Toast. Brown Bread. 

Meringued Cafe au lait. 

Tea. 


Oranges. 

As a preparatory course to the heavier business of breakfast, 
ripe, fresh oranges are held in high esteem. They are served whole, 
and eaten as individual taste dictates, either pared, then divided 
into lobes, which are eaten with or without sugar, or cut in half, 
without paring, and scooped from the shells with a spoon. Finger 
bowls and doilies are set on with them, and every vestige of this 
course is removed before the next is brought in. 


Pork Chops with Tomato Sauce. 

Trim neatly, and beat them flat with a potato beetle. Heat a 
tablespoonful of butter in a frying-pan, and drop into it when it 
hisses, half a dozen slices of onion. Lay in the chops and fry 
slowly for five minutes. Then increase the heat until they are 





422 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


nicely browned. Take them up and lay in a hot-water dish ; strain 
the onion out of the gravy. Return the latter to the frying-pan, 
add four tablespoonfuls of boiling water, a tablespoonful of butter 
cut up in two of browned flour, pepper, salt, half a teaspoonful of 
sugar, and half a cup of strained juice from a can of tomatoes. 
Boil up sharply, and pour over the chops. 


Crumb Griddle Cakes. 

One pint of hot milk, and the same of hot w'ater; two heaping 
cups of fine, dry crumbs ; half a cupful of prepared flour ; one table- 
spoonful of molasses, and one of melted butter; two eggs ; one 
tablespoonful of salt. 

Soak the crumbs in the milk and water, and stir over the fire 
until they are smoking hot, when set them aside to cool. They 
should be just lukew'arm when you beat in the butter, molasses 
and salt, the eggs whipped light, finalh^ the flour. Tr}^ a spoonful 
on a hot griddle, and should it stick, add a little more flour. But 
do not get them stiff. They should be so tender as almost to melt 
in the mouth. 


Meringued Cafe au lait. 

Strain a quart of strong, clear coffee through a cloth into the 
urn ; add three cups of boiling milk, also strained to get rid of the 
“ skin.” Have ready in a pitcher or bowl the whites of two eggs 
whipped to a meringue, then beaten into a heaping cupful of whipped 
cream with a teaspoonful of sugar. Pour the coffee into hot cups 
and lay a dessertspoonful of the meringued cream on the surface of 
each in serving it. 




423 


AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 

LUNCHEON, 

Smoked Salmon au Jeanjiot. 

Potato Cakes an gratin. Graham Bread. 

Butter. Pickles. 

Thickened Milk. 


Smoked Salmon au Jeannot. 

Cut a pound of smoked salmon into strips as long as your mid¬ 
dle finger and twice as wide. Soak them in cold water for two hours, 
then put over the fire in a saucepan. Cover with more cold water, 
and bring to a gentle boil. Have ready in another saucepan a cup¬ 
ful of beef or veal broth, in which half an onion has been boiled 
tender, then strained out. Add to the broth while hot, a table¬ 
spoonful of catsup, walnut, tomato or mushroom, or “ Chili sauce,” 
another of vinegar, a small teaspoonful of made mustard and a pinch 
of ca}’enne. Drain the water from the salmon, wipe each piece and 
butter it well, laying it on a hot dish as 3^ou do so. When all are 
buttered, put them carefully into the hot grav}', cover, and set the 
saucepan where it will simmer, but not boil, for ten minutes. Lay 
the salmon in rows on a hot dish, cover with the gravy, and serve. 
Send around heated crackers and butter with it. 


Potato Cakes au gratin. 

Rub cold mashed potatoes to a paste with a little milk and the 
yolk of an egg. Flour your hands and make into small flat cakes. 
Let these get cold and stiff, and just before cooking sift dry crumbs 
all over them. Set in a qnick oven to brown lightly. Eat hot. 




424 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Thickened Milk. 

One quart of boiliug milk ; four tablespoonfuls of prepared flour; 
one tablespoonful of butter; one teaspoonful of salt. 

Sift the salt into the flour, wet this to a soft dough with cold 
water, and stir it into the hot milk. Cook, stirring well, for ten 
minutes, put in the butter, cook five minutes longer, and pour into a 
deep dish. It should be neither gruel nor paste, but something 
between the two. Eat with sugar and cream. 


DINNER. 

Rabbit Soup. 

Oyster Salad. Steamed Turkey. 

Cranberry Sauce. Scalloped Cabbage. Stewed Squash. 
Myrtle’s Charlotte. Fruit. Coffee. 


Rabbit Soup. 

A pair of wild rabbits, skinned, cleaned and jointed, as for fric¬ 
assee ; half a pound of fat salt pork, chopped fine; a small onion, 
sliced; two tablespoonfuls of butter cut up in three of browned 
flour; juice of a lemon ; as much cayenne as will lie easily put 
on a silver half-dime; dripping for frying; four quarts of cold 
water. 

Heat the dripping to hissing in the frying-pan; fry the onion 
in it until it colors nicely, then the jointed rabbits; take the meat 
out with a split spoon; put into a soup kettle; cover with the 
chopped pork; pour in the water and cook slowly until the meat 
has fallen from the bones ; season with pepper, and, if needed, more 
salt, and set away until next day. Remove the fat from the top of 




AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


425 

4 

the liquor; strain the latter, rejecting bones, and squeezing the 
nourishment out of the meat; heat to boiling ; skim off the floating 
scum ; stir in the butter and flour; cook five minutes ; add the 
lemon-juice, and pour out. Some think this game soup improved 
when a glass of wine goes in at the last. It is an excellent use to 
which to put tough rabbits. 


Oyster Salad. 

Cut a quart of oysters into bits; mix with them two-thirds as 
much blanched, tender celery (also cut, not chopped to pieces), as 
you have oysters ; put into a glass dish ; pour over it a good may¬ 
onnaise dressing, and serve immediately. Until the oysters and 
celery are mixed, keep both in a very cold place. This salad is 
delicious, if eaten as soon as it is made. 


Steamed Turkey. 

Many a tough gobbler and hen-mother, whose coming-out pre¬ 
ceded the time of their departure by several seasons, might have 
won toleration on their last exhibition-day had they been steamed, 
instead of roasted. Prepare the fowl by stufiing in the usual way 
with a good dressing of forcemeat. Bind the legs and wings down 
to the body with tape, put the turke}^ in the steamer, shut up 
closely and cook slowly fifteen minutes to the pound. Test then 
with a fork to make sure it is tender, undo the tapes and cover to 
keep hot; while you add to the drippings a cup of hot milk in which 
have been stirred a great spoonful of flour wet with milk, salt and 
pepper, and, when you have stirred it to a brisk boil, the yolks of two 
raw eggs, beaten light, and those of two hard-boiled, minced fine. 
Cook tw’O minutes, stirring all the while, pour a few spoonfuls over 




426 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


the breast of the turkey, the rest into a sauce-boat. A little chopped 
parsley improves the sauce ; half a can of minced mushrooms makes 
it still better. 


Cranberry Sauce. 

Pick over and wash a quart of cranberries ; add a little water, 
—about half a cupful—to keep them from burning, and cook until 
they are broken to pieces, stirring up well from the bottom every 
few minutes, until they begin to burst. When they are done—not 
until then—stir in two even cups of white sugar ; take from the 
fire as soon as it is dissolved; and strain through mosquito-netting 
into a wet mold. Put on ice until firm. 


Scalloped Cabbage. 

Boil a firm cabbage in two waters. Drain and press, and let it 
get perfectly cold. Then mince fine, add two tablespoonfuls of 
melted butter, two eggs well beaten, three tablespoonfuls of cream 
or milk, pepper and salt to your fancy. Put into a buttered bake- 
dish, sift fine crumbs on top, and bake, covered, half an hour, then 
brown delicately. 


Stewed Squash. 

Cut off the outer shell, seed, cut small and cook tender in boil- 
dng water, slightly salt. Drain and rub through a colander into 
a saucepan, stir in a generous tablespoonful of butter rubbed in 
one of flour, season with pepper and salt, and cook five minutes, 
beating well at the last with a wooden spoon. Serve in a hot deep 
dish. 





AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


427 


Myrtle’s Charlotte. 

Soak a quarter of a package of gelatine two Hours in a cup of 
milk ; put over the fire in a farina-kettle, and let it get scalding hot. 
Strain and cool, but not until it hardens. To a quart of whipped 
cream add the whipped whites of four eggs with a cup of powdered 
sugar. Now, mix in the cooled gelatine with your egg-beater, and 
flavor with a teaspoonful of bitter almond essence. Line a glass 
dish with slices of sponge-cake or with “ lady fingers,” fill with the 
frothed mixture, and set in the refrigerator until wanted. A simple 
and popular dessert. 


No. 33. 

BREAKFAST, 

Mush and Milk. Sausages. Baked Potatoes. 

Pancakes (sugared). Bread—Brown and White. 

Fruit. . Tea. Coffee. 


Mush and Milk. 

Scald a heaping cup of cornmeal with a pint of boiling water, 
and set it in a cool place over night. In the morning put it into a 
farina-kettle with a pint of fresh milk ; mash out the lumps, salt to 
taste, and cook for half an hour, or longer, after it reaches the boil. 
Beat hard, and turn into a deep dish. Eat with cream and sugar. 


Sausages. 

Make the sausage-meat into small cakes, patting them firmly 
into shape. Lay in a frying-pan, add half a cup of cold water, and 
let them simmer until the water is boiled away and the sausages 





428 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


cooked to a fine brown. This is a great improvement upon the 
usual method of frying sausages in their own fat. Eink-sausages 
cooked in the same way do not burst or crack. 


Pancakes (sugared). 

Two cups of prepared flour; two cups of milk ; one table¬ 
spoonful of butter; two eggs ; lard for frying ; powdered sugar. 

Whip the eggs light, mix with the milk, add the flour and butter, 
and beat one minute. Heat an even tablespoouful of lard in a frying- 
pan, and when it hisses, pour in enough batter to cover the bottom 
thinly, cook quickly, and, when the batter is “ set,” turn dexterously 
with a spatula, unless you have practice in tossing pancakes. 
Sprinkle with sugar, roll up smoothly, sift more sugar on the roll, 
and send to the table hot. 


LUNCHEON. 

Italian Rice Pudding. Tomato Sauce. Fried Bread. 

Crackers. Cheese. Olives. 

Apple Charlotte. 

Italian Rice Pudding. 

To two cups of boiled rice add a cupful of hot milk, in which 
has been stirred a bit of soda the size of a pea, and a dessertspoon¬ 
ful of corn-starch. Mix well, and stir in a tablespoonful of melted 
butter and two well-beaten eggs. Add next a cupful of minced veal, 
chicken, turkey, duck or mutton; moisten with three tablespoon¬ 
fuls of highly seasoned gravy, stir all thoroughl}^ put into a 
buttered mold, and bake, covered, in a baking-pan of hot water for 
an hour. Turn out on a hot flat dish, and pass tomato sauce 
with it. 





AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 429 

Tomato Sauce. 

To half a can of tomatoes allow half an onion sliced. Stew both 
together for half an hour, rnb through a colander and return to the 
saucepan with a tablespoonful of butter rolled in a teaspoonful of 
com-starch, half a teaspoonful of sugar, pepper and salt to your 
fancy. Boil one minute, and serve in a gravy dish. 


Fried Bread. 

Cut the crust from slices of stale bread; dip each in a thin bat¬ 
ter made of a cup of milk, two eggs and a heaping tablespoonful of 
flour salted slightly, and fry in lard or clarified dripping to a yel¬ 
low-brown. Drain off the fat from each piece as you take it up. 
Serve hot. 


Apple Charlotte. 

Stew a dozen pared, cored and sliced tart apples soft; sweeten 
\vell and rub through a colander; set again over the fire while you 
stir in the yolks of three eggs. As soon as it is hot (it must not 
boil) turn into a bowl to cool. When cold, beat in the whites of the 
eggs mixed with a tablespoonful of powdered sugar. Line a glass 
dish with sliced sponge cake or lady fingers, pile the apple within 
it, and cover with macaroons neatly fitted together. Set on ice 
until wanted. 


DINNER. 


Barley Broth. 
Pot-Roast of Beef. 

Amber Pudding. 


Buttered Lobster. 

Potato Souffle. Pea Cakes, 

Fruit. Black Coffee. 





430 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Barlp:y Broth. 

Three pounds of coarse muttou, or veal, or a “ scrag ” of mutton 
and a knuckle of veal ; three quarts of water ; half an onion, sliced 
and fried to a good brown ; one carrot; pepper and salt; one cupful 
of pearl barley, soaked three hours in water. 

Put the meat, cut up small and the bones broken, over the fire 
with the onion and cold water; cook slowly for five hours, season, 
and set away until next da}'. Skim off the fat, strain out bones and 
meat, put the liquor into a pot with the soaked and strained barley 
and the carrot cut into dice. Simmer one hour, and serve. 


Buttered Lobster. 

Empty a can of lobster some hours before you wish to use it, and 
keep in a cold place. To prepare it, break the meat into coarse 
bits, avoiding the mincemeat or “ stringy ” look that disfigures much 
salad and many entrees. Put a clean saucepan on the range with 
three large tablespoonfuls of butter, as much cayenne pepper as will 
lie on the point of a pen-knife, the juice and a quarter of the grated 
peel of a large lemon. When the mixture simmers, put in the lob¬ 
ster, with a tablespoonful of fine cruiiibs, and let it get smoking 
hot, stirring it cautiously with a silver fork to prevent scorching. 
Fill a buttered bake dish or scallop-shells with this, strew fine 
crumbs on top, stick minute bits of butter in them, and brown 
lightly in a quick oven. Send heated crackers and sliced lemon 
around with this dish. 


Pot-Roast of Beef. 

Lay a fillet or rib-roast, from which the bones have been taken, 
and which is then skewered into a round, in a broad, deep pot. Pour 




AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


431 

in a cupful of boiling water ; add two slices (no more) of onion, cover 
closely, and cook gently ten minutes to the pound. Then transfer 
to a dripping-pan, rub over with butter, dredge with flour, and brown 
in a brisk oven. Fifteen minutes should do this. Strain and cool 
the gravy left in the pot; take off the fat, put the gravy into a 
frying-pan, pepper, salt, and thicken with a heaping tablespoouful of 
browned flour. Boil up well and serve in a gravy-boat. 

Potato Souffle. 

Add to a cupful of cold mashed potato half a cupful of milk, 
worked in gradually ; mash out all lumps and beat very smooth. 
Whip three eggs and beat them into the potato with pepper and 
salt. Heat two tablespooufuls of nice dripping in a frying-pan, 
pour in the potato, shake, as it cooks, to keep it clear of the bottom, 
and when “ set ” all over, turn it into a hot dish as you would an 
omelette. Serve and eat at once. 

Pea Cakes. 

Empty the peas from the can, drain, and let them lie for half an 
hour in cold salted water. Cook tender in boiling water, slightly 
salt, rub while hot through a colander, work in a teaspoonful of 
butter, pepper and salt to your liking, and let them cool. When 
ready to cook them, beat up two eggs, soften the peas with a cupful 
of milk, worked in by degrees, add a tablespoonful of prepared flour 
to hold the batter together, and fry as you would griddle-cakes. 
Send to table hot. 

Amber Pudding. 

One cup of butter; two cups of sugar ; yolks of six eggs, and 
the whites of eight; juice and grated rind of two lemons ; half a 
glass of brandy ; half a nutmeg. 





432 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Rub butter and sugar to a cream, beat in the yolks, the lemon, 
nntmeg and brandy, lastly, the whites of four eggs. Whip very 
light and bake in open shells of nice pastr}". As soon as the mix- 
tnre has set and a skin formed on the top, spread quickly, without 
taking the puddings from the oven, with meringue made of the 
frothed whites of four eggs, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and juice 
of half a lemon. Shut up again until the meringne begins to 
color. Eat cold. 

I\o. 3-4:. 

BREAKFAST. 

Hominy Porridge. Fried Liver. White Scones. 

Chopped Potatoes. Boiled Eggs. 

Toast. Fruit. Tea. Coffee. 


Fried Liver. 

Wash well; slice, lay in cold salted water to draw' out the blood ; 
wipe dry, salt, pepper, coat each piece with beaten egg, and roll in 
cracker-crumbs. Try out slices of very fat salt pork in a frying- 
pan in which is a sliced onion. Strain the fat, return to the pan 
with a great spoonful of lard and fry the liver, a few pieces at a 
time, and not too fast. Drain off the grease before dishing. 


White Scones. 

One quart of prepared flour ; a pint of milk; two liberal table¬ 
spoonfuls of lard ; a teaspoonful of salt sifted with flour. 

Chop the lard into the salted flour, wet with the milk ; roll out 
thin, cut into biscuits, and roll each of these into thinner cakes 
twice as large. Prick all over with a fork, bake quickly, butter and 
leave in the oven a minute longer. Pile up on a plate. 





433 


AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 

Chopped Potatoes. 

Chop cold Irish and sweet potatoes together. Put some nice 
dripping into a frying pan, heat, pepper and salt it, put in the 
potatoes, and shake and toss lightly, not to break them, until 
smoking hot. 


Boiled Eggs. 

When possible, boil them on the table. If you have no egg- 
boiler, put the eggs into a tin pail of boiling water in the kitchen, 
fit on a close top, wrap in a napkin, and send thus to the dining¬ 
room. In six minutes, if the water was boiling when they went in, 
they will be of custardy consistency throughout, and far more 
digestible than when suffered to cook on the fire. 


LUNCHEON. 

Home-Made Sausage. Celery and Sardine Salad. 

Fried Bananas. Bread and Butter. Crackers and Cheese. 

Soft Gingerbread. Chocolate. 

* 

Home-Made Sausage. 

One-third cold roast beef; two-thirds corned ham or fresh pork, 
roasted or boiled; a little powdered sage and sweet marjoram; pepper 
and salt to your liking; chop all together fine; make into flat 
,cakes; roll in flour, and fry in peppered and salted lard. 


Celery and Sardine Salad. 

Cut the celery into inch-lengths, season lightly with pepper, 
salt and vinegar; heap on a cold, flat dish, and lay sardines about 
the base of the pile. Pour a good mayonnaise dressing over all. 






434 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Soft GinCxF.rbread. 

One cup of butter; oue cup of milk ; one cup of brown sugar; 
one cup of molasses; five cupfuls of sifted flour ; a teaspoonful of 
mixed cinnamon and mace ; a heaping tablespoonful of ground 
ginger; a teaspoonful of soda, sifted with the flour; four eggs. 

Warm molasses, butter, sugar and spices slightly together, and 
stir them to a yellow-brown cream; add the milk, the beaten eggs, 
the flour; whip up well and bake in two large, shallow pans. Eat 
fresh, with cheese and chocolate. 


DINNER. 

» 

Vegetable Soup. 

Broiled Bluefish. Veal and Ham Pie. Scalloped Squash. 
Sweet Potatoes au g rat in. Rice and Peach Pudding. 

Cream Sauce. Coffee. 


Vegetable Soup. 

Three pounds of coarse beef, minced; three quarts of cold 
water; two carrots ; two turnips ; one onion, minced ; three stalks 
of celery; can of tomatoes ; quarter of a cabbage ; one root of 
salsify; two tablespoonfiils of chopped parsley ; pepper and salt; a 
teaspoonful of sugar. 

Put beef and water together and bring slowly to a boil. Simmer 
gently for four hours. Pepper and salt, and set away meat and 
liquor together until next day. Take off the fat and strain out the 
meat. Pare and cut turnips, carrots, celery and salsify into dice of 
uniform size. Shred the cabbage, mince the onion. Put all into a 
pot, cover with boiling salted water, drop in a bit of soda no larger 




AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


435 


than a Lima bean, and cook gently twenty minutes. Drain well, 
and turn the vegetables into the soup-stock. Rub the tomatoes 
through a colander and add them with the parsley. Cook half an 
hour, keeping the contents of the pot at a slow, steady boil all the 
time; put in the sugar and pour into the tureen. 


Broiled Bluefish. 

Split down the back, clean, and wash thoroughly with vinegar 
and water. Broil over a clear, hot fire. When done, rub all over 
with butter, pepper and salt, and serve on a hot-water dish. For 
sauce, whip a tablespoonful of butter to a cream with a teaspoonful 
of anchovy-paste, a teaspoonful of finely cut parsley, and the juice 
of half a lemon. 


Veal and Ham Pie. 

Cut cold cooked veal and half as much corned ham, also boiled 
and cold, into neat dice, season with pepper, a little nutmeg, sweet 
herbs, and add a handful of chopped mushrooms. Heat a cupful of 
gravy in a saucepan, season well, thicken with browned flour, add a 
great spoonful of tomato catsup, put iu the meat, bring to a boil, stir 
in the beaten yolks of two eggs, and take from the fire. Fill a deep 
bake-dish with this, cover the surface with sliced hard-boiled eggs, 
lay a good crust over all; cut a slit in the center and bake to a fine 
yellow-brown. Wash over with white of egg, shut up in the oven 
for one minute, and serve. 

Scalloped Squash. 

Two cups of boiled squash, run through a colander, and then 
left to cool; two eggs ; a tablespoonful of melted butter; half a cup 
of milk ; pepper and salt; half a cup of bread crumbs. 





436 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Beat eggs, butter, milk and squash light, season, pour into a 
buttered bake-dish, sift the crumbs over it, and bake, covered, half 
an hour and then brown lightly. Send to table in the pudding 
dish. Never throw away the remnant of a dish of squash left after 
dinner. It can always be utilized as above. Or, if you have only 
a few spoonfuls, beat in an egg, a half cupful of milk, pepper, salt 
and about three tablespoonfuls of prepared flour, just enough for 
soft batter, and bake as you would griddle cakes. 


Sweet Potatoes an gratin . 

Boil, peel and slice a quarter of an inch thick. Fill a buttered 
pudding-dish with layers of the slices buttered, salted and peppered. 
Unless the potatoes are very sweet, sprinkle a little sugar over 
each stratum. Sift fine crumbs on the top, stick tiny bits of 
butter in them and bake, covered, until hot through, then brown 
delicately. 


Rice and Peach Pudding. 

Boil a cupful of rice in plenty of salted water, until the grains 
are tender, but not until you have a paste. Shake the kettle from 
time to time, and do not touch the rice with a spoon. Drain off all 
the water; set the inner farina-kettle on the side of the range until 
the rice is dry. Have ready in a bowl three eggs beaten light, with 
a cupful of sugar, and one of milk. Mix the rice np well with this, 
using a silver fork for the purpose, not to mash or break the grains. 
Drain the liquor from a can of peaches, put a layer of rice in a 
buttered mold; cover with peaches laid iu evenly; more rice, etc., 
until the materials are used up. Cover the mold, and boil steadily 
for an hour and a half. Turn out, and eat with cream sauce. You 
can make this of evaporated peaches if you like. 




437 


AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 

Cream Sauce. 

A cup of milk and one of cream (if you can get it, if not two 
cups of milk) ; a cup of sugar; whites of two eggs (the yolks of 
which went into your meat pie) ; nutmeg or cinnamon to taste ; one 
tablespoonful of com-starch, wet with cold milk ; vanilla, or bit¬ 
ter almond-essence. 

Scald the milk, add sugar and corn-starch, stir three minutes, 
and put in the stiffened whites, spices and flavoring. Keep hot, but 
not boiling, until you are ready for it, by setting it in a vessel of hot 
water. 


Ko. 35. 


BREAKFAST. 


Brewis. 

Risen Corn Bread. 
Toast. 

Tea. 


Clam Fritters. 
Stewed Sweet Potatoes. 
Boiled Eggs. 

Coffee. Fruit. 


Brewis. 

One cupful of very fine, dry crumbs—those made from crusts 
and old slices of bread dried in the oven, then crushed with a roll¬ 
ing-pin, are the best; one pint of hot milk, and half as much 
boiling water; one full teaspoonful of butter, and a scant one of 
salt; white of an egg, beaten light. 

Soak the crumbs in the boiling water ten minutes, and stir into 
the salted milk. Simmer together five minutes, add the butter, stir 
for two minutes, cover, and leave on the fire three minutes longer. 
Take from the stove, beat in the whipped whites, and send to the 
table in a deep dish. Eat with cream and sugar. 




438 HOUSE AND HOME. 

Clam Fritters. 

Twenty-five clams, cliopped fine; one cup of milk witk a bit of 
soda no larger than a pea, stirred in ; one heaping cupful of prepared 
flour; one teaspoonful—even—of salt, and a little pepper; two eggs. 

Beat the eggs light, add milk, salt, pepper, flour, lastly the clams. 
Mix thoroughly; have plenty of fat or dripping in a kettle, and 
drop in great spoonfuls of the batter. When done, take out with 
a split spoon, shake off the fat, and serve on a hot dish. 


Risen Corn Bread. 

Two cups of white corn meal, and one of flour; four cups of 
milk; one cup of boiling water; a cupful of freshly mashed potato, 
hot; a tablespoonful of sugar, and half as much butter or lard; a 
heaping teaspoonful of salt; half a cake of compressed yeast; tiny 
bit of soda in the milk. 

Rub the potatoes through a colander. While hot, work in but¬ 
ter, sugar, salt, and a cupful of flour alternately with two of milk. 
Scald the meal with the hot water, and add next. Beat two minutes, 
and put in the yeast while the batter is blood-warm. Let it stand 
all night in a covered bowl. In the morning work in the rest of 
the milk, and if needed, flour enough to make a soft manageable 
dough. Knead lightly, make into small loaves that will fit pate- 
pans, let them rise until light, perhaps half an hour, and bake in a 
steady oven forty-five minutes. Keep them covered until they have 
risen to full height, then, brown. 


Stewed Sweet Potatoes. 

Cut cold, boiled potatoes into dice. For a cupful of these allow 
a heaping tablespoonful of nice beef or poultry-dripping, or butter. 




AUTUMN BILLS OF FARE. 


439 


Put this into a frying-pan, and when hot, stir and toss the dice in it 
until slightly browned and well glazed. Have ready in a saucepan 
a cupful of gravy or stock ; season well, thicken with browned flour, 
empty the frying-pan into it, and draw to one side of the range where 
it cannot cook at all, but will keep warm. Leave it thus for five 
minutes, and turn out into deep covered dish. 

LUNCHEON. 

Deviled Ham. Potato Pufi". 

Bread, Butter and Pickles. Baked Apple Charlotte. 

Chocolate. Boiled Chestnuts. 


Deviled Ham. 

Cut even slices of corned or smoked ham, and fry in a pan until 

• 

the edges begin to crisp. Transfer to a chafing-dish, and keep hot. 
Into the fat left in the pan stir half a teaspoonful of made mustard, 
a dash of cayenne pepper, half a teaspoonful of tart jelly, and three 
tablespoonfuls of vinegar. 

Bring to a quick boil, add a great spoonful of sherry, and pour 
over the ham. Serve hot. 


Potato Puff. 

Allow a cupful of milk to two of finely mashed potatoes, with 
two eggs, a teaspoonful of butter or dripping, a little salt and pep¬ 
per. Rub the butter and seasoning into the potato, then, the beaten 
eggs. When light add the milk gradually; pour into a greased 
bake-dish, and set in a quick oven, covered, until it has puffed up 
well, then brown rapidly. Serve in a bake-dish at once before 
it falls. 





440 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Baked Apple Charlotte. 

Pare, slice and chop one dozen tart pippins or greenings. Cover 
the bottom of a buttered pudding-dish with fine crumbs, put in a 
thick layer of apples ; sprinkle plentifully with sugar, lightly with 
cinnamon; another stratum of crumbs, and so on, until the dish is 
full. The topmost layer should be crumbs, but, before adding this, 
pour in half a cupful of water in which are mixed two tablespoon¬ 
fuls of sugar and one of brandy ; cover with the crumbs ; invert a 
deep plate over it; bake, covered, half an hour, then brown. Eat 
W'ith sweet sauce. 


Boiled Chestnuts. 

Pick out those which are free from worm-holes, boil twenty 
minutes fast in hot salted water. Drain, turn into a deep dish, 
and stir a lump of butter the size of a walnut into each quart. 
Eat hot. 


DINNER. 

Rabbit Soup. Browned Beefs Tongue. 

Curry of Tomatoes and Rice. 

Turnips with White Sauce. Boiled Indian Pudding. 

Fruit. Coffee. 

Rabbit Soup. 

One large rabbit; one small onion, sliced and fried; quarter 
pound of salt pork; four tablespoonfuls of rice ; three quarts of 
cold water ; parsley, salt and pepper. 

Joint the rabbit, put into the soup kettle with the pork and 
onion, cover with the water, and cook slowly for two hours ; strain 
out meat and bones, put back over the fire with the rice and parsley ; 





AUTUMN BIUIvS OF FARE. 


441 


simmer until the rice is soft, mince the meat left in the colander 
very fine, and stir into the soup. Boil up and pour into the tureen. 
A good soup. 


Browned Beef’s Tongue. 

Boil a large fresh beef’s tongue gently until a skewer passes easily 
through it; have ready in a saucepan a pint of weak stock, or some 
of the pot-liquor, strained and skimmed, to which you have added a 
tablespoonful of chopped onion, as much minced parsley, a couple 
of stewed tomatoes strained, a pinch of mace, and the same of cloves ; 
salt, pepper, and a teaspoonful of sugar. When these ingredients 
have simmered together for half an hour, lay the tongue, skinned 
and trimmed neatly, in a dripping-pan, pour the gravy over it, bake, 
covered, and basting often, one hour ; take the tongue up and keep 
warm while you thicken the gravy with browned flour, adding a 
little made mustard; pour over the tongue. 


Curry of Tomatoes and Rice. 

One can of tomatoes ; three-quarters of a cup of rice; one even 
tablespoonful of curry powder; one half teaspoonful of salt; two 
tablespoonfuls of butter ; one tablespoonful of sugar. 

Stir the curry-powder and sugar into the tomatoes ; put a layer 
in the bottom of a pudding dish ; cover with raw rice; salt, and 
drop bits of butter over the rice; more tomatoes; more rice, salt 
and butter, until the materials are all in. The uppermost layer 
must be tomatoes. Let all stand together two hours. Bake in a 
steady, not quick oven, forty minutes, covered, then brown. Send 
to table in the pudding dish. 




442 


HOUSE AND HOME. 
Turnips with White Sauce. 


Peel and slice white turnips; lay in cold water for half an hour ; 
put over the fire in boiling, salted water, and cook tender ; drain, 
pepper and salt, put into a deep dish, and cover with a cupful of 
drawn butter, made with milk instead of water. Serve very hot. 


Boiled Indian Pudding. 

Two cups of Indian meal; two cups of milk; four eggs ; half 
cup of powdered suet; half teaspoonful of cinnamon; one cup of 
molasses ; quarter teaspoonful of soda, sifted with the meal, twice. 

Heat the milk to scalding, add the suet and the meal. When 
the suet is melted, put in the cinnamon and molasses, and let all get 
perfectly cold. Then beat in the-eggs hard, and pour into a 
buttered mold with a tight top. Boil steadily four hours. Dip the 
mold into cold water for a minute to loosen the contents. Turn out 
on a hot dish, and eat with butter and sugar, or with hard sauce. 






The Thanksgiving Dinner. 


THANKSGIVING dinner should be the visible rendering 
of thought and emotion. In clearing away the idolatries 
f * of Paganism, we hacked so fiercely that some pretty, 

^ clinging vines of custom and affection fell with the obnox¬ 

ious trunks. One of these was the religious feast in its season— 
the tender offerings of spring-time; the grapes, figs and mulberries, 
with a host of other summer delicacies ; the corn, wine and oil, 
which were sacrificed with song and dance to Ceres in the bounteous 
autumn. 

It is meet that we should make merry and be glad at the 
Thrice-Blessed Christmas-tide, and there is sweet significance in the 
gathering of the family, young and old, from near and from far, 
about the table (or altar), laden with the kindly fruits of the earth. 
“ All this hath GOD given us ! ” 

This is my little sermon-grace, if you will have it—over our 
Thanksgiving table. 

The table is not furnished as our grandams loaded theirs in the 
olden time, so much more rude than ours. The board no longer 
groans, literally or metaphorically, under its burden of divers meats, 
vegetables and sweets. 


443 







444 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


% 

Whatever may be the press of duties that on other days drives 
the business of eating into a gobble and a race, dyspepsia and 
apoplexy hovering, viewless, but very-present ghosts about the 
dumb devourers—take time on Thanksgiving-day to dine. If I 
were a religious and civil dictator for this one day, I would ordain 
certain ceremonies in cottage as in palace, as hygienic regulations 
and means of grace. 

First, then, my pale-faced sister, sorely beaten in the long wrestle 
with the problem how to make fifty cents do the work of seventy- 
five, resist the disposition to “ set everything on at once, and get the 
bother out of the way.” Lay what our ecclesiastical forefathers used 
to call quaintly and aptly, “ a fair cloth,” upon the table. Adjust a 
large napkin, or carving-cloth, over the spot where the chief dish of 
meat is to stand. 

Grudge not your best belongings of crockery, china, glass and 
silver. To each plate allot a glossy (not starched) napkin, a soup¬ 
spoon laid in front of the plate and parallel with the edge of the 
table, at the left side, two forks—at the right, two knives. 

If you use “ individual ” salts, have one, newly filled and 
imprinted, at the right hand ; also a goblet and a butter-plate. If 
you have larger salt-stands, assign one to each corner of the table, 
and one midway up each side, if the party be large. 

As a central ornament, have a bowl, or, if you have no better 
vessel, a soup-plate of flowers. Or—for these are beginning to be very 
expensive now—make a beauty of economy, aud fill the dish with 
autumnal treasures, the hardy ferns that can still be found under 
the fallen shrubs and leaves in the woods ; bearded grasses, silver- 
gray “ Life-Everlasting,” the fluffy clusters of the winged seeds of 
clematis, and bright berries from wayside hedges, with a shining 
brown cone or two. Make your decoration mean something, and 
blend the fancy with all the appointments of the feast. 


THE THANKSGIVING DINNER. 


445 


Within the napkins slip squares or thick bars of bread, and 
lay on the outer fold of each a delicate spray of variegated foliage, 
or a bit of fern and bunch of bitter-sweet, or blue-gray cedar 
berries. 

Distribute the dishes with an eye to effect of color and 
grouping, rather than to rectilinear symmetry. Avoid rows 
and “ match-dishes.” Motley now-a-days is your only wear, and the 
zigzag the direction of artistic beauty. 

On a side-board, or table, arrange methodically relays of knives, 
forks, plates, etc., and be sure the order is comprehended by the 
cook and waiter before the family and guests sit down. 

Begin the meal with a good soup. 

To this should succeed fish—if yon live near the seaboard, boiled 
cod with drawn butter, boiled halibut with egg-sauce poured over 
it—or better than either, a pretty thick piece of baked halibut with 
sauce tartare. 

None of these are costly, and all are good. 

Most well-bred people—I may hint just here—in eating fish, 
boiled in particular, rarely touch it with their knives, even when 
these are silver. The fork is used for breaking apart the flakes, 
for separating from these and removing the bones, and for conve3dng ^ 
the prepared morsel to the mouth. No vegetables, unless it be pota¬ 
toes in some form, are passed with fish. 

Still leading up to the main business of the hour, let the next 
offering be a nice entree^ or made-dish, chicken pates or croquettes, 
in memoriam of the ponderous chicken-pie which was a standing 
dish with our grandmothers on the fourth Thursday of November. 
With it send around stewed salsify (oyster-plant) and pickles. 

Then—for the central theme, the point of clustering interests— 
the Thanksgiving Turkey! 


446 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


He should be well stuffed, carefully basted, judiciously turned 
from time to time, be a constant if not oppressive solicitude, never 
lifted from the mind of the cook, be she amateur or professional, 
from the moment he is put down to roast until he is drawn—rich in 
coloring, done to a turn in the thickest joint, but nowhere scorched, 
a goodly type of plenty—from temporary seclusion. 

Is it not Dickens who paints a family of poor children sitting 
around the spit to see the Christmas goose cooked, and almost 
dining on the odor ? 

Surround our Bird, when dished, with small fried sausages not 
larger than a dollar, interspersed with blanched celery-tops. Ac¬ 
company him by a sauce-boat of gravy from which the fat was 
skimmed before the chopped giblets were stirred in; a dish of 
cranberry sauce or jelly, and sweet potatoes. 

When the savory portion laid on each plate has been duly dis¬ 
cussed, pass a glass-stand or salver of crisp celery, both as an 
assistant to the gastric juices and a tonic (we do not admit the 
word “ stimulant ” here) to the palate, that shall prepare it for the 
remainder of the banquet. 

If you introduce game, let it succeed the turkey, and some 
lettuce with it. If it is not convenient to get quails, grouse or 
venison, content yourself with a salad of lettuce. Break apart the 
heads and wash each leaf, before dinner, rejecting all that are not 
sound and fresh. Heap these upon a dish or plate, and leave in the 
refrigerator until called for. This dish should be brought to table, 
and set before the hostess, with a salad-bowl. 

This last must be lined with a small, clean napkin. Daintily, 
with the tips of your fingers, break in pieces the larger leaves, and 
lay with the smaller, upon the napkin. When all are looked and 
picked over, gather up the four corners of the napkin upon the 


THE THANKSGIVING DINNER. 


447 

heap; shake lightly to get rid of the clinging moisture, and turn 
out into the salad-bowl. 

Lay the wet napkin upon the emptied dish in which the lettuce 
was brought, and send away. Dress the lettuce with salt, white 
sugar, pepper, oil and vinegar, allowing to three tablespoonfuls of 
oil twice the quantity of vinegar, toss with a wooden spoon and fork, 
until the seasoning permeates the salad, and send around the table. 

Salad-dressing at table is a graceful, housewifely accomplishment 
which every woman should practice. 

Eat the lettuce—and indeed all salads—with the fork alone. If 
the leaves have been properly selected, there is no excuse for touch¬ 
ing the knife, and lettuce is unfit for table-use which cannot be cut 
with a fork-tine. 

Crackers and cheese follow this course, and, if yon like, olives. 
This is the breathing-space in a “ course-dinner,” a season of 
leisurely and luxurious resting on the gastronomic oars before the 
next long pull. 

The cheerful chat, that has been the best sauce of the meal, is 
here especially in order—a running fire of jest and repartee re-acting 
wholesomely upon appetite and digestion. 

To-day, allow the children a modest share in table-talk—an 
exercise in which, by the way, Americans of the middle-class are 
usually egregiously unskilful. As with other fine arts, practice 
in this is indispensable to perfection,' and the cultivation of it 
involves what our utilitarian stigmatizes as “ trifling over one’s 
victuals.” 

If we dallied longer over the family meal, we would pay fewer 
serious calls to the doctors office and apothecary’s shop. 

The pumpkin-pie is the next consideration. Keep the mince for 
Christmas. The pumpkin is the homelier, yet luscious domestic 
product, the representative of our garnered harvest. 


448 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


The crust should be short and flaky—not friable, and tasting 
like dessiccated lard. It must crackle with an agreeable sound, like 
the rustle of dry leaves, under the knife, and melt upon the tongue. 
The filling must be of a golden-brown, in the enjoyment of which 
the palate cannot discern the various elements of milk, eggs, sugar 
and pumpkin, but is abundantly satisfied with the combined whole. 

Fruits and nuts are eaten at ease, and in indolent contentment, 
and, these disposed of, send black coffee after the withdrawing 
company into the parlor, as a grateful stomachic sequel. 

“ Heaven pity the dish-washers! ” cried an old lady, admitted to 
inspect the glories of the Lord Mayor’s banquet. 

Perhaps in the mind of my fellow-housekeeper who can afford to 
hire but one “ girl ” and does not often “ entertain,” a similar ejacu¬ 
lation may arise in reading the above sketch of a holiday feast. 

Get one plume less for your winter bonnet, and lay by the 
money thus saved to pay for extra help on Thanksgiving Day. 

Or, if you prefer, let the soiled dishes of the later courses be 
rinsed in hot water, and set by in the back kitchen,until next 
morning. There will be no violent convulsion of Nature should 
you depart once in a great while, from established laws. 

Spare no pains to make your few fetes landmarks in the memory 
of your children. The stately progress of a dinner such as we have 
described is an educational step to them, and a solemn joy in the 
recollection. It is worth while —how well worth while many are 
prone to leave out of sight—to make for ourselves and our juniors 
golden days that shall never lose their lustre. 

Who thinks, even once a year, of the true meaning of “ holy- 
day ? ” The dinner here proposed costs no more than the very 
promiscuous “ spread ” that will crowd many a table in farmhouse 
and unfashionable street upon the anniversary, to be swallowed in 
half the time the decorous succession of ours will require. 



Winter Bills of Fare. 

No. 36. 

BREAKFAST. 

Browned Rice Porridge. 

Fricasseed Eggs. Crumpets. Stewed Potatoes. 

Fruit. Tea. Coffee. 


Browned Rice Porridge. 

Parch a cupful of dry rice in the oven to a light brown, as you 
would coffee, stirring it to prevent scorching, and to preserve a 
uniform tint. Put over the fire in a farina kettle, with more than 
a quart of cold water, salt slightly and cook tender, but not to 
breaking. Shake up from the bottom now and then, but do not stir 
it. When done, drain off the water; set the kettle uncovered at 
the back of the stove to dry off the rice. Eat with sugar and 
cream. This is especially wholesome diet when laxatives, such as 
wheaten grits, or such heating cereals as oatmeal are to be avoided 
by the eater. 

Fricasseed Eggs. 

Boil for fifteen minutes, throw at once into cold water, and let 
them lie there for the same time. Peel, cut each in half lengthwise; 






450 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


extract the yolks, and rub smooth with a teaspoonful of anchovy 
paste, a little made mustard and the tiniest suspicion of cayenne. 
Mould this pasty mixture into balls of the same shape and size as 
the yolks, put them into the cavities left in the halved whites, 
fasten them in place by tying firmly with cotton twine when you 
have skewered them together with wooden toothpicks, one through 
each bisected egg. Have ready in a saucepan a good cupful of 
drawn butter (drawn with milk, not water), seasoned with pepper, 
salt and minced parsley. Lay the eggs in carefully; set the 
saucepan covered in boiling water, and cook gently, keeping the 
water outside at a slow boil for ten minutes. Arrange the eggs in 
a pile on a heated platter, and pour the sauce over them. 


Crumpets. , 

One quart of milk; half a yeast-cake dissolved in warm water, 
or four tablespoonfuls of yeast; one tablespoonful of lard, and the 
same of butter; one half teaspoonful of salt; one quarter teaspoonful 
of soda sifted twice with the salt in a quart of flour. 

Mix well over night; beat up hard in the morning; let it rise 
for an hour longer ; half fill heated and greased muf&n tins, on a 
heated and greased griddle with the batter, and bake on the top of 
the range, turning once. Run a sharp knife around the inside of 
each ring to loosen the crumpet. Eat hot. The cold ones left over 
are nice, if split, toasted and buttered. 


LUNCHEON. 

Oysters on Toast. 

Thin Bread and Butter. Jellied Tongue. 

Hot Crackers. Cheese. 

An Excellent Cup Cake. 

Cocoatheta. 




WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 
Oysters on Toast. 


451 


Drain the liquor from a quart of oysters; cut each into four 
pieces, and drain again in a colander for fifteen minutes. Heat the 
liquor, and strain through coarse muslin back into the sauce. When 
it boils again, dip out a small cupful and keep it hot. Stir into that 
left on the range a liberal teaspoonful of butter rolled in a scant 
teaspoonfnl of corn-starch. In another vessel, heat half a cupful of 
milk. Stir the oysters into the thickened liquor; season with pep¬ 
per and salt, and cook, after they are scalding hot, five minutes 
before adding the milk. Line a hot platter with net slices of crust- 
less toast, buttered, wet with the reserved liquor, and cover with 
the oysters. 


Thin Bread and Butter. 

Cut the “ kissing slice ” from the end of a loaf; butter the 
exposed surface, and slice very thin. Butter again, and slice until 
you have enough cut. Draw a sharp knife across the middle of 
each slice and fold it over upon itself, buttered sides inward. 


Jellied Tongue. 

Clear a pint of the liquor in which a smoked tongue was boiled, 
by heating to a boil, and stirring in the white of an egg, then boil¬ 
ing slowly for five minutes. Strain through a thick cloth without 
squeezing, and pour it boiling-hot on half a package of gelatine, 
which has been soaked two hours in enough cold water to cover it. 
Add to this a blade of mace, half a dozen black peppercorns, and 
four tablespoonfuls of sharp, clear vinegar. Stir until the gelatine 
is dissolved, and strain, without pressing, through a flannel bag. 
When it is cold, and begins to congeal at the edges, fill a mold or 




452 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


bowl (wet with cold water) with slices of tongue arranged in per¬ 
pendicular rows, and pour the jell}^ over them. Set in a cold place 
until firm; turn out on a cold platter. Yon can jelly the tongue 
whole, if you like, by cutting off the root, and trimming the rest 
into a neat shape, paring awa}- every particle of skin, and omitting 
the tough tip altogether. Lay it in an oval pan or mold, and cover 
with the semi-liquid jelly. It will be a handsome dish when turned 
out. 


An Excellent Cup Cake. 

Two rounded cups of powdered sugar; one even cup of butter; 
one cup of milk ; three cups of prepared flour; four eggs ; one lemon, 
juice and rind. 

Rub butter and sugar to a cream, beat in the lemon, the whipped 
yolks, the milk ; then frothed whites and flour by turns. Bake in 
small tins, or in two square tins. 


DINNER. 

Giblet Soup. 

Roast Beef, with Yorkshire Pudding. Sea Kale. 

Mount Blanc Potato. Creamed Sponge Cake. 
Brandied Peaches. Fruit. Coffee. 


Giblet Soup. 

Cook the giblets of a turkey, or those from a pair of chickens, 
in a pint of cold water until tender; salt, and set away in the liquor 
until cold and stiff. Take them out, and chop fine, when you have 





WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 


453 


skimmed the fat from the liquor, and put it over the fire with a pint 
of soup stock. Boil up well, skim, strain back into the pot, add the 
minced giblets, and season to taste. Put into a frjung-pan two 
tablespoonfuls of butter which has been cut up, and worked into 
two of browned flour. Stir steadil}’- until it melts and simmers, 
when add a small teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce. Turn into 
the soup, rinsing out the frjung-pan with a few spoonfuls of the hot 
liquor to get all the flour and butter. Cook gentl}^ for ten minutes, 
and serve. 


Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding. 

When a roast of beef is within half an hour of the “ turn,” 
drain off the gravy in a bowl, leaving about two tablespoonfuls 
in the dripping pan. Lay a gridiron over the pan, if 3^ou have 
one that will go into the oven. If not, prop the meat on clean sticks 
of oak or hickory (not pine) laid across the top of the dripping 
pan. Pour in the pudding, letting the fat from the roast drop on it 
as it cooks. 


Yorkshire Pudding. 

Four eggs beaten very light; two cups of milk; two cups of 
prepared flour; one teaspoonful of salt. Beat whites and 3"olks 
into separate bowls; into the latter stir the milk, then frothed 
whites and salted flonr by turns ; mix quickly, and bake at once. 
Cut the pudding into strips an inch mde by three long, and lay 
about the beef when dished, helping one or two pieces with each 
slice of meat. 


Sea Kale. 

This is a vegetable that needs only to be better known to become 
w'idely popular. Lay in cold water for half an hour, when you 





454 


house and home. 


Have washed and picked it over to get out dead leaves, coarse stems, 
bits of sand, &c. ; cook twenty-five minutes in boiling water, 
salted ; drain, and press in a colander, chop fine, return to the fire 
in a saucepan and beat into it a great spoonful of butter, a little 
pepper and a great spoonful of vinegar; stir and toss until very 
hot and dish. 


Mont Blanc Potato. 

Instead of mashing boiled potatoes, whip light and dry with a 
wooden or silver fork. At this point, begin to whip in a cupful of 
hot milk for a quart of mashed potatoes, and when all is in, beat 
in the frothed white of two eggs. Heap conically in a deep silver 
or stoneware dish; set in a quick oven until the surface hardens 
slightl}^ Withdraw before it catches a shade of brown, wash over 
lightly with butter, and send to table. 

Creamed Sponge Cake. 

Cut the top from a stale sponge cake loaf in one piece, half an 
inch thick. Dig and scrape the crumbs from inside of loaf and 
upper slice, leaving enough to keep the outside firm. Spread a 
thick layer of fruit jelly on the inside. Heat a cup of milk to aboil, 
stir in a teaspoonful of corn-starch wet with cold milk, and the cake 
crumbs rubbed fine. Stir until thick, take from the fire, beat in two 
whipped eggs and two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Make all into 
smooth batter; set in boiling water on the range and stir for five 
minutes after the mixture is really hot through. Turn into a bowl, 
flavor with a teaspoonful of bitter almond essence, and let it get cold. 
Fill the cake with it, fit on the top, wash all over with whipped 
white of egg; sift powdered sugar evenly over it until no more 
will adhere to the surface, and let it harden. 

Send around brandied peaches with this. 




WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 


455 


No. 37. 

BREAKFAST. 

Hominy Boiled with Milk. Creamed Eggs. 

Fried Mush. Brown Muffins. Maple Syrup. 

Tea, Coffee. Fruit. 


Hominy Boiled with Milk. 

One cupful of small hominy ; one quart of boiling water, salted ; 
one cupful of milk ; salt to taste. 

Wash the hominy in two waters and stir it into the boiling water. 
Cook half an hour (in a farina kettle, of course), drain off all the 
water that will come away, add the milk, already heated, and cook 
half an hour longer. Eat with cream, and, if you like, sugar. 


' Creamed Eggs. 

Break as many eggs in a buttered pie-dish as it will hold with¬ 
out crowding each other. Sprinkle with pepper and salt, and put a 
bit of butter on each. Have ready a cup of hot milk in which has 
been cooked for one minute a teaspoonful of com-starch, or, better 
yet, of arrowroot wet up with cold water. Pour this, a spoonful at 
a time, about the raw eggs, and bake in a quick oven until the eggs 
are fairly set. Five minutes should do it. Send to table at once 
in the pie-plate. 


Fried Mush. 

One heaping cup of Indian meal; one quart of boiling water, and 
one of cold, in which stir a teaspoonful of salt—a full one. 

Stir the meal, wet with cold water, into the pot of boiling water, 
and cook one hour, stirring up from the bottom once in a while. 





456 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Wet muffin tins in cold water, and fill with the mush over night. 
In the morning slip the stiffened shapes out, flour them well and fry 
in hot dripping. 


Brown Muffins. 

Three even cups of Graham flour; one even cup of white flour; 
four cups of milk; four tablespoonfuls of yeast; one tablespoonful 
of butter; two tablespoonfuls of brown sugar ; one teaspoonful of 
salt. 

Rub butter and sugar together; add the milk, sift the fl6ur, 
white and brown, with the salt; make a hole in the middle, stir in 
the milk and then the yeast; beat well, set to rise over night, and 
bake in small tins in a. good oven. Let the batter stand in the tins 
in a warm place twenty minutes before going into the oven. 


LUNCHEON. 

Bread and Butter. Barbecued Ham. 

Cream Toast. Baked Potatoes. 

Steamed Potatoes. Marmalade Cake. 


Barbecued Ham. 

Fry slices of cold, boiled ham; keep warm while you stir into 
the gravy left in the pan four tablespoonfuls of vinegar, mixed with a 
tablespoonful of mustard, a teaspoonful of sugar, half a teaspoonful 
of catsup, or Chili sauce, and a little pepper. Boil up once and pour 
on the fried ham. This dish is sometimes called “ deviled ham,” 
and is a good spur to appetite. 






WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 


457 


Cream Toast, 

Eight or teu slices of stale baker’s bread. Cut off the crusts ; 
two cups of hot milk ; two tablespoonfuls of butter ; whites of two 
eggs ; boiling water, salted. 

As each slice of bread is toasted, dip in a saucepan of salted 
boiling water, kept on the range ; pile in a deep eovered dish. “Put 
on the top of the dish when all the dipped toast is in, and make the 
sauee. Heat the milk to scalding, add the butter, and when it is 
melted, the whites of the eggs beaten to a froth. Pour upon the 
toast, lifting the lower sliees to let the dressing get at them, cover 
and keep hot for five minutes before sending to the table. 


Baked Potatoes. 

Select fine, fair potatoes, wash and wipe, and bake them in a 
moderate oven until the largest yields to a vigorous pinch of thumb 
and finger. Line a dish' with a napkin, and serve them without 
peeling. 


Steamed Apples. 

Wash and wipe sweet apples ; dig out the blossom-end and the 
upper part of the core with a sharp-pointed knife, and lay them 
close together in a baking-pan. Half submerge in eold water; 
cover elosely and cook tender. Let them get cold, still covered, in 
a glass dish, and eat with sugar and cream. 


Marmalade Cake. 

One cup of prepared flour; one cup of sugar; two tablespoon- ■ 
fills of butter; one tablespoonfnl of milk; three eggs ; marmalade 
or jelly (sweet) for filling. 





458 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Work butter and sugar to a light sauce, beat the eggs light. 
Whip the beaten yolks into the creamed sugar and butter, add the 
milk, the whites, and the flour. Bake in three jelly cake-tins, and 
spread marmalade, sweet jelly or jam between. 


DINNER. 

Clam Chowder. Boiled Chicken in Rice. 

Stewed Celery. Mashed Potatoes. Lettuce Salad. 

Crackers and Roquefort Cheese. 

Coffee, Jelly and Cake. Fruit. Coffee. 


Clam Chowder. (The best on record.) 

Two quarts of long clams, chopped ; two quarts of tomatoes (or 
one quart can) ; a dozen potatoes peeled, or cut into dice; one large 
onion, sliced thin; eight pilot biscuits; half a pound of fat salt 
pork, minced; twelve whole allspice, and the same of cloves; as 
much cayenne pepper as you can take up on the point of a knife ; 
salt to taste; two quarts of cold water. 

Fry the chopped pork crisp in a pot, take the bits out with a 
skimmer, and fry the minced onion until it is colored. Now put 
with the fat and onion the tomatoes and potatoes, the spices tied np 
in a bag, the water and the pepper. Cook steadily four hours. At 
the end of three hours and a half, add the clams and the pilot bread. 
This last should be broken up and soaked in warm milk. Some 
consider that the chowder is improved by stirring in, five minutes 
before serving, a tablespoonful of butter cut up in browned flour. It 
is delicious with, or without, this final touch. 




WINTER BILES OF FARE. 
Boiled Chicken on Rice. 


459 


Prepare the fowl as for roasting, bind in a piece of muslin or 
mosquito net; put into a pot of boiling water, and cook twelve min¬ 
utes to the pound. Half an hour before taking it up, dip out a cup¬ 
ful of liquor from the pot, strain it, and set in ice-cold water to throw 
up the grease. Skim this off, and seasou the cup of broth well with 
pepper and salt. Have ready two cupfuls of rice which has been 

boiled ten minutes, and then drained. Mix this with the skimmed 

\ 

broth, and cook in a farina kettle until the rice is tender. Shake 
the kettle, now and then, but do not put a spoon into the rice. 
When all the broth is absorbed, stir in very lightly a tablespoonful 
of butter and a little minced parsley, with a beaten egg. Cook one. 
minute, and take from the fire. Spread the rice two inches thick in 
the bottom of a hot platter, and settle the boiled chicken in the mid¬ 
dle. For gravy, heat another cupful of broth, strain, and add a 
tablespoonful of butter cut up in one of flour, and when it thickens, 
salt and pepper, a beaten egg and minced parsley. Cook ten min¬ 
utes, and send to table in a boat. 


Stewed Celery. 

Scrape and wash the celery, cut it into inch-lengths, and cook 
ten minutes in boiling, salted water. Turn this off, and cover with 
cold water. As this reaches the boil, drain it off and add a cup of 
milk, dropping in a bit of soda not larger than' a grain of corn ; 
heat, and stir in a tablespoonful of butter rolled in flour, pepper and 
salt, and stew gently five minutes longer. As you scrape and cut 
the celery, drop each piece into cold water to keep it white. 



460 


HOUSE AND HOME. 
Lettuce Salad. 


Wash the lettuce faithfully, and pick out the best pieces, i. e.^ 
the whitest and crispest leaves for the table. Do this just before 
dinner is serv^ed, and leave in ice-water until it is wanted. Line a 
salver with a small napkin, and pile the lettuce on it. Tear the 
leaves into smaller pieces daintily, and lay in the salad bowl. Scat¬ 
ter salt, pepper, and white sugar over and among them; when they 
are ready for seasoning, pour in two or three tablespoonfuls of salad 
oil, and double the quantity of vinegar ; toss (still daintily), with a 
salad fork and spoon,until the dressing is impartially distributed, 
and pass the bowl at once. Salad dressed in this way, and eaten 
before the crisp succulence of the lettuce is destroyed by the vine¬ 
gar, is quite a different thing from the wilted greens often passed 
under the much-perverted name. It should never be touched with 
the knife in preparing or in eating. You may send around 
crackers and cheese with it. 


Coffee Jelly. 

One package of Coxe’s gelatine soaked for four hours in enough 
cold water to cover it an inch deep when it is put in. 

Two cups of clear black coffee ; one tablespoonful of white 
sugar ; two cups of boiling water. 

When the gelatine has soaked long enough, put it with the 
sugar into a large bowl, and let them stand for half an hour. Stir 
in, then, the water, actually boiling, and when the gelatine is 
dissolved, strain. Add the coffee, strain wdthout pressing the 
flannel bag, and set in a wet mold to form. When you are ready to 
serve it, turn out carefully on a flat dish, and serve with sugar and 


cream. 



WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 461 

No. 3S. 

BREAKFAST. 

Hominy Porridge. Fish Balls. 

Risen Muffins. White and Graham Bread. 

Chocolate. Tea. Fruit. 


Hominy Porridge. 

One cupful of small hominy; one quart of boiling water; one 
tablespoonful of butter; salt to taste. 

Wash the hominy in two waters, leaving it in the second for an 
hour or so; drain in colander lined with coarse cloth, and stir into 
the salted water, which should be boiling in a farina kettle; cover, 
and cook half an hour; beat up from the bottom with a wooden 
spoon, and boil, uncovered, fifteen minutes ; beat in the butter, and 
pour into a deep dish. Eat with sugar and cream, or with cream 
only. 

Fish Baels. 

Mince, or pick into fine shreds a cupful of salt cod, soaked, 
boiled and cold. Put with it an equal quantity of freshly mashed 
potato, and half a cupful of drawn butter in which a raw egg has 
been beaten. Work lightly until well mixed and soft; flour a 
rolling-board, and drop a spoonful of the mixture on it. Roll into 
a ball, and lay on a cold platter. When all the balls have been 
made, set in a cold place. Do this over night. Heat lard or drip¬ 
ping enough to cover the fish-balls in a deep frying-pan; try one 
to see if it is hot enough to cook it quickly, and fry, a few at a time, 
to a fine golden brown. As you cook, lay them in a hot colander 
to free them from grease. Heap on a heated platter, slice a lemon 
thin, and garnish the edges of the dish with it. 




462 HOUSE AND HOME. 

Risen Muffins. 

Four cups of flour; four tablespoonfuls of yeast; two eggs ; one 
tablespoonful of butter or sweet lard; one cup of milk; one tea¬ 
spoonful of salt. 

Beat the eggs light, add milk, salt, yeast, shortening (melted), 
sugar, at last, the flour. Let the batter rise all night, setting it at 
bed time. In the morning, bake in muffin-rings on a griddle, or in 
small tins. 

LUNCHEON. 

Calfs Brains. Scalloped Tomatoes. 

Steamed Corn Bread. 

Mock East India Preserves. Cookies. 


Calf’s Brains. 

The brains of a calf; two beaten eggs ; one tablespoonful of 
butter; half a cup of gravy ; some rounds of fried bread, or of toast. 

Wash the brains in cold water, and take out fibres and skin. 
Drop into boiling water, and cook fast fifteen minutes. Leave in ice 
water until perfectly cold, hlash them, then, with the back of a 
spoon, beat in the eggs with salt and pepper to your liking. When 
you have a smooth paste, heat the butter to hissing in a frying-pan, 
stir the brains in, and cook, keeping the spoon busy, two minutes. 
Have ready some rounds of fried bread on a hot dish, pour on each 
a teaspoonful or so of scalding broth or gravy, and heap the smok¬ 
ing mass of soft brains on them, as you would scrambled eggs. 


Boiled Corn Bread. 

Two cups of white cornmeal; one cup of Graham flour; two 
tablespoonfuls of sugar; two and a half cups of milk; two tea- 





WINTER BILES OF FARE. 463 

spoonfuls of Boyal Baking Powder; one great spoonful of shorten¬ 
ing (half butter and half lard) and a spoonful of salt. 

Sift baking-powder with the flour, add the meal, and sift 
again; rub butter and sugar together; salt, and stir in the 
milk ; the latter should be slightly warmed. Pour this liquid in a 
hole made in the mingled meal and flour, gradually stirring down 
the dry flour toward the center ; beat all hard, two minutes at least; 
two hours will be better. Dip for a second in cold water, and turn 
the bread out upon a warm plate. Eat at once. It is very good. 


Scalloped Tomatoes. 

Strain most of the liquor from a can of tomatoes, butter a bake- 
dish, spread a layer of tomatoes in the bottom, season with bits of 
butter, salt, pepper, sugar, and a few shreds of onion. Cover this 
layer with fine bread crumbs, put over it another of tomatoes, 
seasoning, and so on until the dish is full. The top should be a 
stratum of seasoned crumbs. Set in the oven, covered, and bake, 
removing the lid ten minutes before taking it out, that it may 
brown delicately. 


Mock East India Preserves. 

Six pounds of pared and minced pippins, or other winter apples ; 
six pounds of sugar; three lemons; three roots of white ginger 
sliced thin. 

Put the sugar over the fire with a cup of boiling water to prevent 
burning ; as it dissolves, increase the heat and bring to a brisk boil. 
Cook thus, twenty minutes without stirring, but watching to see 
that it does not scorch; skim and add the apples, the lemons 
minced (all except the seed) and the sliced ginger; boil to a clear 
yellow, as briskly as is safe ; pack in small jars. 




464 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Cookies. 

One large cup of sugar; one scant cup of butter; two beaten 
eggs; four tablespoonfuls of milk ; one half teaspoonful of salt; 
nutmeg and cinnamon, each, a half teaspoonful; nearly three cups 
of prepared flour, enough to enable you to roll it into a soft dough. 

Rub butter and sugar, beat in the whipped eggs, the spices, salt, 
milk, and stir in the flour. Roll into a thin sheet and cut into 
shapes with a cake-cutter. Bake in a quick oven. 


DINNER. 

Calf’s Head Soup. 

Halibut Steak. Beef’s Tongue au gratin. 

Potato Puff. Stewed Oyster Plant. 

Baked Apple Dumpling, Brandy Sauce. 

Fruit. ■ Coffee. 

Calf’s Head Soup. 

A calf’s head cleaned with the skin on ; six tablespoonfuls of 
butter, and a like quantity of browned flour; six quarts of cold 
water; one onion sliced and fried, and one grated carrot; bunch of 
sweet herbs ; pepper and salt; teaspoonful of allspice; one table¬ 
spoonful of Worcestershire sauce, and one of sugar; one glass of 
brown sherry. 

Boil the head tender, and set it aside in the liquor. Next day, 
take it out of the stock, scrape off the jelly, and cut the meat neatly 
from the bones. ^ Reserve that from the top of the head and cheeks 
to cut into dice, and set, for this purpose, with the tongue, in a cool 
place. Set the stock over fire and add to it the bones, the refuse meat, 




WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 


465 


the herbs, fried onion and carrot, and cook one hour; strain, when 
you have picked out the bones, and rub the vegetables through the 
colander. Put the butter into a frying-pan, and when warm, stir in 
the flour to a brown roux^ as it is called; add the spice, the pepper 
and the salt, and turn into the soup; boil two minutes, drop in the 
dice of meat cut with a sharp knife, heat to a quick boil, and put in 
the sauce. The wine is added in the tureen. Lay thin slices of 
peeled lemon on the surface of the soup. You may, if you like, 
make forcemeat-balls of the brains, stirred up with raw egg and 
flour, also add a cup of tomato juice. There is no better soup than 
this when it is properly made, nor is it so difficult as one might 
imagine from the length of the recipe. 

Halibut Steaks. 

Wash and wipe the steaks, dip in beaten egg, then roll in 
cracker-crumbs, seasoned with pepper and salt, and fry in hot drip¬ 
ping ; or, you may broil the steaks on a gridiron as you would 
beefsteak. Serve on a hot dish, rub on both sides with a mixture 
of butter, pepper and salt, and the juice of a lemon. 

Beef’s Tongue augratin. 

Wash, trim and scrape a fine, fresh beef’s tongue, and cook in 
boiling water, slightly salted, one hour. 

Take up, wipe off the liquor, cover with beaten egg, roll it in 
cracker-crumbs, put into a dripping-pan and brown, brushing it 
twice with melted butter while it is in the oven. Keep hot in a 
chafing-dish, while you add to the gravy in the dripping-pan, a cup¬ 
ful of the liquor in which the tongue was boiled, a tablespoonful of 
butter cut up in browned flour, half a teaspoonful of made mustard, 
salt and pepper, and the juice of a lemon. Boil up, and strain into 
a gravy-boat. 




466 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Potato Puff. 

Boil, and mash the potatoes in the usual way, with butter and 
milk; beat in two eggs, and pour into a buttered bake dish. Brown 
on the upper grating of the oven, and .serve in the dish in which it 
was baked. 


Stewed Oyster Plant. 

Scrape, and cut into inch-lengths a bunch of oyster plant, drop¬ 
ping it into cold water, as you cut it, to keep the color. Stew 
tender and white, in boiling water, a little salt. Turn off the water, 
and supply its place with a cup of hot (not boiled) milk, stir in a 
tablespoonful of butter cut up in one of flour, pepper and salt to 
taste, stew three minutes, stirring once or twice to prevent lumping, 
and serve. 

Baked Apple Dumplings. 

Four sifted cups of prepared flour ; one tablespoonful of lard, ' 
and the same of butter ; two cups of milk ; eight fine tart apples ; 
half a teaspoonful of salt. 

Chop the butter and lard into the flour (salted) and mix with milk 
to a soft dough, roll into a sheet nearly half an inch thick ; cut into 
squares about five inches across ; pare and core the apples, and put 
one in the middle of each square; fold over the four corners of the 
paste, pinching the edges together, and arrange in a floured baking- 
pan, the folded part downward; bake to a light brown ; rub with 
butter when done, and sift sugar on the top. 

Brandy Sauce. 

Two tablespoonfuls of butter; two cups of powdered sugar; 
three tablespoonfuls of brandy ; quarter of a grated nutmeg. 





WINTER BILES OF FARE. 


467 

The butter should be rather soft, but not melted. Cream it 
light with the sugar, spice, and beat in the brandy, whip hard, heap 
on a glass dish, and set in a cold place until it is wanted on the 
table. 


No. 39. 

BREAKFAST. 


Oatmeal Porridge. 
Southern Batter Bread. 

Cold Bread. 
Tea. 


Codfish Omelette. 

Potato Loaves. 
Fruit. 

Coffee. 


Codfish Omelette. 

One cup of “ picked ” salt cod which has been soaked, boiled 
and allowed to get cold; one cup of milk ; one tablespoonful of but¬ 
ter rubbed in one of flour; seven eggs beaten light; pepper, and 
minced parsley; seven rounds of crustless toast, dipped in boiling 
water, then buttered. 

Heat the milk, stir in the floured butter, pepper, parsley and 
minced fish. Take from the fire after two minutes cooking, add the 
eggs quickly and pour into a frying-pan in which is hissing a 
spoonful of butter, shake and stir until the mixture begins to form 
at the edges, when heap on the buttered toast spread on a hot dish. 
Serve hot. 


Southern Batter Bread. 

Three cups of Indian-meal; half cup of boiled rice (cold) ; one 
pint of boiling water ; one teaspoonful of salt; three eggs ; one cup¬ 
ful of buttermilk, or sour milk; one tablespoonful of lard; one 
even teaspoonful of soda. 





468 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Sift salt, soda and meal together twice ; wet up with the hot 
water, and beat in the lard and rice. Now, whip in the beaten eggs, 
lastly, the sour milk and lard. Bake in a shallow tin, or pie-plate. 
This is best when made with Southern corn-meal. 


Potato Loaves. 

Work cold mashed potatoes soft with a little butter and the 
yolks of one or two eggs, say, one yolk to each cupful, season with 
pepper and salt and make into neat loaves, flouring your hands to 
enable you to handle the paste. Do not get it too stiflf. Flour 
well, lay a little distance apart in a hot dripping-pan, and brown 
quickly. "As a crust forms upon them, wash with beaten white of 
egg to glaze the tops. Slip a spatula under them and transfer to a 
hot dish. 

LUNCHEON. 

Fried Tripe. Baked Eggs. 

Bread and Butter. Crackers and Cheese. 

Tea Cakes. Chocolate. 


Fried Tripe. 

Cut cold boiled tripe into pieces three inches square, and lay 
them for half an hour in a mixture of salad oil (a tablespoonful), 
twice as much vinegar, a little salt and pepper; roll in salted flour 
or in cracker crumbs, and fry in hot dripping or lard. Drain off the 
grease, and dish. 


Baked Eggs. 

Soak a cupful of bread-crumbs in half a cupful of hot milk for 
twenty minutes, stir in a teaspoonful of butter, the yolk of an egg, 
a tablespoonful of grated cheese, two tablespoonfuls of savory broth. 






WINTER BITES OF FARE. 


469 


a little minced onion, and a teaspoonful of minced parsley. Pour 
the mixture into a neat pie-plate and set, covered, in a quick oven. 
In six minutes lift the cover, break as many eggs on the bubbling 
surface as the dish will hold, sift fine crumbs on top and leave in 
the oven for three minutes longer. Serve in the dish. 


-Tea Cakes. 

A quart of prepared flour; an even cupful of butter; four 
eggs ; half teaspoonful of nutmeg or mace , half cupful of raisins ; 
one heaping cupful of sugar. 

Beat eggs light, stir butter and sugar to a cream, and put with 
the nutmeg. Mix well together, work in the sifted flour lightly 
until you have a good paste. Roll into a sheet less than a quarter of 
an inch thick, cut into round cakes, bury a raisin in the center of 
each, and bake in a brisk oven. Eat fresh. Do not let them get 
too brown in the oven. 


DINNER. 

Potato Puree. Larded Pike. 

Veal and Ham Cutlets. 

Creamed Turnips. Potato Souffle. 

Stewed Tomatoes. Baked Roley-Poley. 

Hard Sauce. 

Fruit. Nuts. Coffee. 


Potato Puree. 

Three cups of mashed potatoes ; one small onion; two large 
tablespoonfuls of butter rolled in one of flour; two quarts of boil¬ 
ing water ; two eggs ; two stalks of celery chopped ; one cup of hot 
milk ; one tablespoonful of finely cut parsley ; salt and pepper. 





470 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Put potato, onion (chopped) and celery with the hot water over 
the fire, season, and cook gently half an hour, stirring often to 
prevent scorching, strain and rub through a colander; return to the 
kettle with the parsley and floured butter, and stir to a simmering 
boil, heat in an another vessel the milk, turn upon the beaten eggs, 
mix well, add to the contents of the soup-kettle; stir over the fire 
for one minute, and pour into the tureen. 


Larded Pike. 

Clean and wash the fish ; make incisions, crosswise, in the sides 
and put into each, well imbedded, a strip of solid fat salt pork; lay 
in a dripping-pan, pour over it a cupful of boiling water, and bake, 
covered, half an hour, basting often with the liquor in the pan ; 
repeat this at intervals of five minutes until the fish is tender and 
nicely browned; lift carefully to a hot-water dish ; strain the gravy, 
thicken with browned flour, boil up, add half a glass of claret, and 
serve in a boat. Pass the potato souffle with the fish. Red 
snapper may be cooked in the same way. 


Veal and Ham Cutlets. 

Cut enough veal cutlets to make a good dish, and a like number 
of slices of cold boiled ham. Corned ham is best. Dip both in 
beaten egg, then, in fine crumbs mixed with salt, pepper, finely cut 
parsley and a dust of nutmeg. Fry in boiling dripping, or lard; 
drain, and arrange in alternate slices of veal and ham on a hot 
dish. Garnish with cresses. 

Creamed Turnips. 

Peel, lay in cold water for half an hour and cook tender and 
fast in hot salted water, drain, pressing well, put into a clean tin or 





WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 


471 


porcelain saucepan and beat smooth over the fire with a wooden 
spoon (never an iron one), mixing, as you go on, a good spoonful 
of butter and three spoonfuls of milk or cream ; season with pep¬ 
per and salt. The lumps should be rubbed out and the turnips a 
smooth puree. 


Potato Souffle. 

Beat two cupfuls of hot mashed potato light and soft with warm 
milk and a little butter, add the yolks of three eggs, pepper and 
salt, and turn into a greased pudding-dish; set in the oven until it 
begins to brown, spread with a meringue of the whites whipped stiff 
with a little salt and pepper; drop tiny bits of butter on the top, and 
when this has colored slightly, take from the oven. Serve at once 
before it falls. 


Stewed Tomatoes. 

To a can of tomatoes add a teaspoonful of minced onion, as 

much white sugar, salt and pepper to taste, a tablespoonful of 

# 

butter and two tablespoonfuls of fine crumbs; stew fast for twenty 
minutes, and rub through a hot colander into a deep covered dish. 
This is a decided improvement on the usual style of stewing 
tomatoes. 


Baked Roley-Poley. 

One quart of Hecker’s prepared flour; two full tablespoonfuls of 
lard ; two cups of milk ; yolk of an egg ; one teaspoonful of salt; a 
large cup of jam, marmalade, or canned (and strained) berries, well 
sweetened. 

Sift flour and salt together, beat the yolk light, and stir into the 
milk ; chop up the shortening into the flour until well incorporated; 





472 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


wet the flour with the milk into a good dough; roll out half an 
inch thick, spread with the fruit, and roll up closely; pinch the 
outer edges together and lay the roll, the joined sides downward, in 
a floured baking-pan; bake until browned, wash over with whipped 
white of egg, and send to table ; eat with hard sauce. 


No. 4:0. 

BREAKFAST. 

Oranges. 

Corn Beef Hash. English Mufiins. 

Potatoes Stewed Whole. 

Tea. . Coffee. 


Corned Beef Hash. 

To two cupfuls of cold corned beef, minced, allow one and one- 
half of mashed potatoes. Mix them well together, and season with 
pepper. Put a cupful of broth or gravy into a frying-pan, heat to a 
boil and stir in the meat and potato, tossing and scraping it 
toward the center from the sides and bottom, until you have a smok¬ 
ing heap, just soft enough not to run over the pan. Stiff hash is 
a culinary abomination. Serve on a hot platter with triangles of 
fried bread laid about the base of the heap, points upward. If you 
have no gravj’’, put boiling water into the pan, mix in two table¬ 
spoonfuls of butter with a teaspoonful of tomato catsup or 
Worcestershire sauce, and when it simmers, proceed as above. 


English Muffins. 

On baking-day, take a pint of dough from the batch which has 
risen all night; work in a cupful of warm water, and when you 






WINTER BIEES OF FARE. 


473 


have a smooth, stiffish batter, beat in a couple of eggs. Set to rise 
in a pitcher near the fire for an hour, or until quite light; have 
greased mufidn-rings ready on a hot griddle, half-fill them with the 
batter, and bake on both sides, as you would griddle-cakes. Send 
to table hot, and split them by tearing them open. You can make 
them .without eggs, but they are not quite so nice. 


Potatoes Stewed Whole. 

Boil, with the skins on, the small potatoes the cook thinks not 
worth the trouble of peeling, until done through. Turn off the 
water, and dry in the hot pot for a minute; peel quickly, and drop 
in a saucepan where you have ready the sauce. This is made by 
scalding a cup of milk, adding one of boiling water, stirring into it 
a tablespoonful of butter cut up in flour, and a tablespoonful of 
chopped parsley. Pepper and salt, and simmer with the potatoes 
in it ten minutes before pouring out. It is well to mellow each 
potato, before putting it in the sauce, by pressing it hard enough 
with the back of a spoon to crack, but not to split it. 


LUNCHEON. 

Shrimp Salad, with Mayonnaise Dressing. 

Cheesecups. 

Crackers, Bread, Butter and Olives. 
Oatmeal Gingerbread. 
Cocoa-theta. 


Shrimp Salad. 

Open a can of shrimps some hours before you want to use them, 
and keep in a cold place. An hour before lunch-time, cover them 





474 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


with vinegar in which has been mixed a tablespoonfnl of salad oil; 
leave them in this fifty minutes, then arrange in a broad, cold, 
glass dish, saucers or cups made of crisp lettuce; put a tablespoon¬ 
ful of shrimps, drained, in each, scatter pounded ice among the 
leaves, and, as you serve, pour on a great spoonful of mayonnaise 
dressing for each person. 

Mayonnaise Dressing. 

Yolk of six eggs ; one cup of .salad-oil; two tablespoonfuls of 
vinegar; one saltspoonful of salt, and half as much cayenne 
pepper. 

Keep eggs, vinegar and oil on ice until you begin to mix the 
dressing. Set a bowl in a pan of cracked ice ; break the yolks care¬ 
fully into it, that not a drop of the whites may mingle with them. 
Have another pan of ice at hand in which the bottles of vinegar and 
oil are set. Begin to beat the yolks slowly and evenly, and, as soon 
as they are broken, let fall one drop of oil upon them, each minute, 
keeping the egg-beater going for ten minutes. Then put in three 
drops each minute, until the mixture is a smooth yellow batter, when 
begin to mix in the vinegar, a half-teaspoonful every two minutes, 
alternating it with a teaspoonful of oil, beating steadily until both 
are used up. Now go in salt and pepper. Whip vigorously five 
minutes, and pour into a glass or silver pitcher. Keep this on ice 
until the salad is served. 


Oatmeae Gingerbread. 

Two and a half cups of fine oatmeal; one tablespoonful of 
butter; half a cup of molasses, and the same of brown sugar; one 
Clip of sour milk; one teaspoonful (an even one) of soda, and one 
of salt, sifted twice through the meal; one teaspoonful of ginger, 
and twice as much cinnamon. 




WINTER BILES OF FARE. 


475 


Stir molasses, spice, sugar, and melted butter until they are a 
yellow-brown cream, add the milk and flour, beat hard, and bake in 
small buttered tins. Eat \varni. 


Cocoa-theta. 

This delicious and delicate preparation of chocolate can be 
made in five minutes, and will be found a peculiarly agreeable 
accompaniment to the wholesome gingerbread for which directions 
are given above. 


DINNER. 

Cod Chowder. Baked Calf’s Head. 

Canned Com Stew, Mold of Potato. 

Indian-Meal Pudding. 

Fmit. Coffee. 


Cod Chowder. 

Three pounds of fish; one onion, sliced and fried; twelve Bos¬ 
ton crackers ; half a pound of salt pork ; butter ; cora-starch ; one 
pint of oysters, chopped; one cup of milk ; chopped parsley; 
pepper. 

Cut the cod into dice, lay a double handful in the bottom of the 
soup-pot, on this strew pork, sliced onion and pepper, and cover 
with crackers. Proceed in this order until the materials are all in, 
cover with cold water, put on the pot-lid, and stew gently until the 
fish is tender—perhaps for an hour after the boil begins. Take out 
the fish and crackers with a split spoon, and put into the tureen, 
setting the platter in hot water. Strain the liquor through a col¬ 
ander to get out the bones, return to the kettle, and this to the fire. 





476 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Cut up two tablespoonfuls of butter iu a tablespoonful of corn-starch, 
stir this into the liquor, boil up and put in the oysters (chopped) 
and a tablespoonful of parsley. Simmer five minutes, add a cupful 
of hot milk, and pour into the tureen. Pass hot crackers and sliced 
lemon with it. 


Baked Calf’s Head. 

This should have been cleaned with the skin on. Take out the 
brains, boil them ten minutes in hot water, then throw them into 
cold, and set aside. Bind the halves of the head in place with wide 
tape, put over the fire iu plenty of boiling, salted water, and cook 
gently for an hour. Take up, wipe, score the cheeks slightly with 
a keen blade, and lay the head in a dripping-pan. Dash over it a 
cupful of the scalding liquor in which it was boiled, and bake, bast¬ 
ing it three times with butter, afterwards with its own gravy. When 
it is a fine brown, remove to a hot dish, strain the gravy into a 
saucepan, add the brains beaten to a paste, thicken with browned 
flour, season to taste, boil up and send to table in a boat. Send 
around Chili sauce, or tomato catsup, with the head. 


Canned Corn Stew. 

Empty a can of corn some hours before you want to use it, to 
get rid of the “ close ” taste of the air-tight vessel. Chop a bit of 
fat salt pork an inch square into tiny atoms, put it over the fire 
with a cup of cold water, and stew, covered, for an hour. Pepper, 
and add the corn. Cook twenty minutes, pour in half a cup of hot 
milk in which a teaspoonful of butter rolled in one of flour has 
been dissolved, also, half a teaspoonful of white sugar. Simmer 
five minutes, and serve in a deep dish. 





477 


WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 

AIold of Potato. 

To two cupfuls of mashed potato, allow two tablespoonfuls of 
butter, half a cupful of hot milk, two beaten eggs, a teaspoonful 
of salt, and a quarter as much pepper. Mix up well; butter a mold 
or bowl with plain sides, strew these thickly with fine crumbs, put 
in the potato, and set in a dripping-pan of hot water in a good oven. 
Bake half an hour and turn out carefully on a heated platter. 


Indian Meal Pudding. 

Three cups of Indian meal ; one quart of milk ; three eggs ; four 
tablespoonfuls of molasses; one teaspoonful of salt; three table¬ 
spoonfuls of suet; one teaspoonful of cinnamon ; a quarter-teaspoon- 
ful of soda, stirred into the milk. 

Scald the meal with the milk heated to boiling, stir in suet and 
salt, and let it get cold; then add the eggs, molasses and spice and 
beat faithfully; pour into a well-buttered mold, and steam, or boil, 
four or five hours, keeping the water in the pot or steamer at a 
steady boil all the time. Turn out, and eat at once with hard sauce. 

No. 4:1 

BREAKFAST. 

Baked Sweet Apples. Brain Fritters. 

Oatmeal Griddle Cakes with Maple Syrup. 

Fruit. Coffee. Tea. 


Baked Sweet Apples. 

Wash, wipe and cut out the blossom-end of pound sweets, or 
other large sweet apples; and bake them until soft, turning them 
several times as they brown. Sift sugar over them while hot. Let 
them get perfectly cold, and eat with sugar and cream. 





478 HOUSE AND HOxME. 

Brain Fritters. 

After washing, and ridding the brains of fibres and skin, drop 
them into boiling water, and cook gently for fifteen minntes, then 
throw into ice-cold water. When they are stiff and white, wipe and 
mash them to a batter with a wooden spoon, seasoning with salt 
and pepper. Beat into this an egg, half a cup of milk, and two or 
three tablespoonfuls of prepared flour. Fry a little in the boiling 
fat before venturing more, drop in by the tablespoonful, fry quickly, 
shake in a heated colander to free them of fat, and serve very hot. 
They are nice. 

Oatmeal Griddle Cakes. 

One cupful of cold oatmeal porridge; two eggs; two cupfuls of 
buttermilk, or sour cream, or loppered milk ; one tablespoonfiil of 
molasses, or brown sugar; one teaspoonful of soda, sifted with half 
a cupful of Graham flour ; one teaspoonful of salt; one teaspoon¬ 
ful of butter, melted. 

If you use cream, you do not need this last ingredient. Whip 
the eggs, and beat them into the porridge, then salt, sugar, butter, 
milk, lastly, the Graham, flour. Beat and stir for two minutes and 
bake on the griddle. 

LUNCHEON. 

Chicken or Veal Foudu. 

Baked Beans. Brown Bread. 

Walnut Cake. Chocolate. 

Chicken or Veal Fondu. 

Two cupfuls of finely minced meat; one cupful of milk, and 
the same of dry crumbs ; one heaping tablespoonful of butter ; three 
eggs ; bit of soda the size of a pea, in the milk ; pepper and salt; 





WINTER BILES OF FARE. 


479 


stir tlie crumbs into the hot milk, and cook iu a farina-kettle to a 
lumpless, smoking batter. Add the butter, turn into a bowl, and 
beat with a wooden spoon for two minutes. Set where it will cool 
fast. When nearly cold, add the seasoning, whipped eggs and minced 
meat. Mix thoroughly, beating high and fast, and pour into a but¬ 
tered pudding-dish. Bake in a good oven, keeping it covered for 
half an hour. Brown on the upper grating, and serve before it falls. 

If yon have gravy left from the roast, heat, and send it around 
with the fo7idti. 

Baked Beans. 

Soak a quart of beans all night. In tne morning, cover them 
with boiling water, and set at the side of the range until swollen 
and soft, but not broken. If you have no bean-pot, put them into 
a deep bake-dish ; thrust a half pound “chunk” of salt pork, par¬ 
boiled, and scored on top, down into the beans ; add a teaspoonful 
of salt, half as much made-mustard and a tablespoonful of molasses, 
to them, with enough hot water to cover them nearly—fit a top on 
dish, or pot, and set in a slow oven. Bake six hours, peeping at 
them three or four times to see if they need more boiling water. 
If so, supply it. For the last half-hour, cook them faster and 
uncovered. This is the genuine New England dish, and cannot be 
improved upon. 


Brown Bread. 

One-half cup of Graham flour; one cup, each, of rye flour and 
Indian meal; one cup of milk ; one-half cup of molasses ; one even 
teaspoonful of salt; one even teaspoonful of soda, sifted three times 

with meal and flour; one tablespoonful of lard. 

Put the flour and meal, sifted with salt and soda, into a bowl. 
Mix milk, lard and molasses together, warm slightly, and add to 




480 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


the contents of the bowl gradually, stirring it well. Work for three 
minutes, put into a greased mold, and steam for three hours. . Eat 
while hot. 


Walnut Cake. 

Three cups of prepared flour ; one cup of butter, and two of 
sugar; four eggs; one cup of cold water; two even cupfuls of 
English walnut kernels, cut into small bits. 

Cream the butter and sugar, add the beaten yolks, the water, 
then the flour, and whipped whites alternately, last of all, the nuts. 
Mix thoroughly and bake in small tins, or, if in a large mold, in one 
that has a funnel in the center. 


DINNER. 

Potato Soup. 

Steamed Chicken, Stuffed. Oyster-Plant Fritters. 

Scalloped Squash. 

Sponge Cake. * Custard. 

Fruit. Coffee. 


Potato Soup. 

Boil enough Irish potatoes to make two cupfuls when mashed. 
Whip them light, and keep hot. Into two quarts of boiling water 
shred a small onion, two stalks of refuse celery and three sprigs of 
parsley. Cook until the vegetables are soft. Put them through a 
colander with the water in which they were boiled, then pass the 
potato through the holes into the same pot. Return to the fire, 
season with pepper and salt, and bring to a gentle boil. Take care 
it does not burn. Now stir in four generous tablespoonfnls of 





WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 


481 


butter, cut up, and rubbed iuto two tablespoonfuls of prepared 
flour. Boil two minutes more, and pour out. It will be found 
delightful, although “ a soup maigre.” The excellence of such 
depends much upon seasoning and smoothness. They are too often 
watery, insipid and lumpy. 


Steamed Chicken, Stuffed. 

Clean and dress as for roasting. Make a stnf&ng of crumbs 
seasoned with pepper, salt and butter, then, mix with a dozen 
oysters, each cut into three pieces. Bind legs and wings to the 
body with tape, aud put into a steamer with a closely-fitting lid. If 
you liave no steamer (which is a pity) put the fowl into a tin pail 
with a good top, and set in a pot of cold water. Heat gradually to 
a boil, and if the fowl* be full-grown, cook steadily for two hours 
after the boil begins. Open the steamer at the end of the second 
hour for the first time, and try the breast with a fork. If tender, 
remove the chicken to a hot-water dish, and keep covered while yon 
make the gravy. Strain the gravy from the steamer or pail into a 
saucepan ; stir in two tablespoonfuls of butter, four of oyster-liquor 
(also strained), a tablespoonful of flour wet up in three tablespoon¬ 
fuls of cream, and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley. Bring to a 
boil, stir in quickly a beaten egg, season to taste, and ponr some of 
it over the fowl, the rest into a boat. This is so savory a dish that 
it should be better known. 

Oyster Plant Fritters. 

Scrape the skin carefully from the roots, and grate them into a 
batter made of one cnp of milk, half a cnp of prepared flonr, and 
one beaten egg. Unless the roots are grated directly into the mix¬ 
ture, they darken immediately. Season with salt and pepper; try 




482 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


a little of the batter in the hissing-hot dripping before risking more. 
If too thin, add flour cautiously. If too solid, put in more milk. 
Drain off the fat by shaking each fritter vigorously in the split 
spoon as you take it out of the frying-pan. Eat while very hot. 


Scalloped Squash. 

The Hubbard, or green winter squashes, are best for this dish 
Scrape out the seeds, pare off the shell, and leave in cold salt and 
water for one hour; cook in hot water, a little salt, until tender. 
Mash well, and let it cool. When quite cold, whip into it a table 
spoonful of butter, one of corn-starch wet up in half a cup of milk 
(for a large cupful of squash), three whipped eggs, pepper and salt. 
Turn the mixture into a buttered pudding dish ; strew thickly with 
fine crumbs, and bake in a quick oven. 


Sponge Cake Custard. 

I know of no other use to which baker’s sponge cake can be put that 
brings such satisfaction to the consumer as to make it into this pud¬ 
ding. Buy a stale card of sponge cake ; lay on a stone china platter; 
pour around—not over—it a hot custard made of a pint of milk, the 
yolks of three eggs and three tablespoonfuls of sugar boiled together 
until the mixture begins to thicken. Season with vanilla, coat the 
top of the cake thickly with jelly or jam, and on this spread a 
meringue of the whites, beaten stiff with a tablespoonful of powdered 
sugar. Set in the oven over a dripping-pan of hot water until the 
meringue is slightly colored. Eat cold. 




WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 483 



No. 42. 


Rice Porridge. 

BREAKFAST. 

Stewed Eels. 

Gems. 

Potato Balls. 

Fruit. 

Tea. 


Coffee. 


Rice Porridge. 

One cup of raw rice ; one quart of boiling water, salted; one cup 
of milk; beaten whites of two eggs. 

Soak the rice in cold water one hour, drain, and put over the fire 
in the boiling water, cook soft, shake up from the bottom now and 
then, pour in the milk heated to scalding, simmer ten minutes, add 
the beaten whites, cook just one minute, and serve in a deep dish. 
Eat with sugar and cream. It is delicate and nourishing. 


Stewed Eels. 

Two pounds of eels; three tablespoonfuls of butter; one tea¬ 
spoonful of chopped onion, and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley; 
pepper and salt; one tablespoonful of flour. 

Skin and clean the eels, carefully removing all the fat, cut 
neatly through the backbone into pieces two inches long. Melt the 
butter in a saucepan, but do not color it before laying the pieces of 
eel in it. Sprinkle with onions and parsley, cover closely and set in 
a vessel of cold water. Cook gently over a steady fire for an hour 
and a half after the boil begins. The eels should be tender, but not 
boiled to rags. Remove them with a split spoon to a hot-water dish, 
stir into the liquor left in the saucepan, pepper, salt and flour, the 
latter wet up with cold water. Bring to a quick boil, and pour over 
the eels. 




484 • HOUSE AND HOME. 

Gems. 

Two eggs ; two cups of milk ; half-teaspoonful of baking-pow¬ 
der ; two cups of sifted flour; Half a teaspoonful of salt. 

Beat the eggs light, add the milk and the flour with which have 
been sifted salt and baking-powder. Whip hard, and pour into but¬ 
tered gem-pans already warm. Bake in a quick oven. 


Potato Balls. 

Work into a cupful of cold mashed potato a teaspooufnl of 
melted butter. When the mixture is white and light, add the 
beaten yolk of one egg, and season to taste. Make into balls 
between your floured palms, roll thickly in flour, and fry in plenty 
of nice hot dripping. Take up with a split spoon, shake off the fat 
and pile on a hot dish. 

LUNCHEON. 

Anchovied Toast with Egg Sauce. 

Potato Salad. 

Bread and Butter. Crackers. 

Crullers. • Cafe an lait. 

Anchovied Toast with Egg Sauce. 

Spread rounds of buttered (crustless) toast with anchovy paste, 
and lay in a heated platter. Have ready a cupful of drawn butter, 
boiling hot, in a farina kettle; beat four eggs light and stir them 
into the drawn butter. Season with pepper (the anchovy should 
supply most of the salt) and cook and stir until you have a smooth 
thick sauce. It should not clot or harden. Four minutes should 
cook it sufiiciently. Pour upon the toast. 





WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 


485 


Potato Salad. 

Rub a cupful of mashed potato through a colander; mix with it 
half a cupful of shred white cabbage, prepared as for cold slaw; 
two tablespoonfuls of chopped cucumber, or gherkin pickle (or one 
tablespoonful of minced pickled onion) and the pounded yolks of 
two hard-boiled eggs. Stir and incorporate the ingredients faith- 
full}^ Make a dressing as follows : Into half a cupful of boiling 
vinegar stir one tablespoonful of melted butter, one teaspoonful of 
sugar, one beaten raw egg, one teaspoonful of flour wet with cold 
vinegar, one teaspoonful of celery essence ; salt and pepper to taste; 
one half-teaspoonful of mustard. Cook and stir until you have a 
smooth cream, and mix hot with the salad. Toss and mix 
thoroughly. Set in a cold place, or on the ice until wanted. It will 
be liked by all who eat it. Pass crackers—slightly warmed—with it. 


Crullers. 

Six eggs ; one half pound of butter; three quarters of a pound 
of sugar; flour to roll out in a good dough that will not adhere to 
board and fingers ; mace and cinnamon, half teaspoonful of each ; 
brown sugar and butter. 

Mix, and work in flour, roll thin, cut into shapes and drop one 
into a deep frying-pan of boiling lard. If it rises quickly and does 
not brown too fast, put in as many as can be cooked without crowd¬ 
ing, taking them out with a split spoon when they are plump and 
of a golden-brown color. Sift powdered sugar over them while 
warm. They are delicious. 

Cafe an lait . 

Strain strong hot coffee into a hot urn or coffee-pot, add an 
equal quantity of scalding milk, throw a thick cloth or a “ cozy ” 
over the urn and let it stand five minutes before filling the cups. 




486 


HOUSE AND HOME. 

DINNER. 


Farina Soup. Baked Halibut. 

Ragout of Mutton. Cauliflower au gratm. 

Hominy Croquettes. Cocoanut Custard. Light Cakes. 

Fruit. Coflee, 


Farina Soup. 

Heat and strain four cups of soup-stock of any kind, and bring 
it to a boil. Scald two cups of milk, beat three eggs light, and add 
to them gradually the hot milk. Heat and stir until the sugarless 
custard begins to thicken, when turn into a tureen. Add the scalding 
stock, and stir in. Anally, four tablespoonfuls of Parmesan cheese, 
grated. Pass grated cheese with it for those -who would like to have 
more. You can buy real Parmesan cheese ready grated in bottles 
from the best grocers. 


Baked Halibut. 

Buy the fish in a thick, solid cut, and lay in strong salt-and- 
water for an hour at least. Wipe all over, cut the skin on top criss¬ 
cross, just reaching the flesh below, and lay in a dripping-pan. 
Dash a cupful of boiling water over it, and cook twelve minutes for 
each pound. Have ready two tablespoonfuls of butter dissolved in 
hot water, mingled with the juice of a lemon, and baste often. 
When a fork penetrates easily the thickest part of the fish, take it 
up and keep hot while you add to the gravy a teaspoonful of Har¬ 
vey’s or Worcestershire sauce, and a tablespoonful of butter rubbed 
in two great spoonfuls of browned flour. Should this make the 
gravy too thick, add a little boiling water. Boil, and strain into 
a sauce-boat. 




WINTER BILES OF FARE. 


487 


Ragout of Mutton. 

Coarser chops than those sold as “ French,” will do for this dish. 
Heat half a cupful of clarified dripping, or as much butter, in a frying- 
pan ; put in half of an onion sliced, cook three minutes, and lay in 
the chops dredged with flour. Fry quickly until they begin to 
brown nicely; take up with a split spoon, and put into a saucepan, 
add a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and a pinch of powdered 
thyme ; cover with cold water ; put a close lid on the saucepan, and 
cook very slowly for two hours, or until the meat is ready to fall 
from the bones. Lift it, piece by piece, to a hot-water dish ; skim 
the gravy, pepper and salt it, and add half a can of green peas which 
have been drained and laid in cold water for an hour. Stew until 
soft, rub through a colander; stir in a tablespoonfnl of butter rolled in 
browned flour; boil up once, and pour over the meat. 

Cauliflower au gratin . 

Wash carefully ; tie up in mosquito-netting, and boil thirty min¬ 
utes in hot salted water. Undo the netting, and lay the cauliflower, 
blossom upward, in a pudding-dish. Pour a cupful of drawn butter 
over it, strew with dry crumbs, and brown lightly on the upper 
grating of the oven. Send round with it drawn butter in which has 
been squeezed the juice of a lemon. . 

Hominy Croquettes. 

Rub a cup of cold boiled “ small ” hominy smooth with a table¬ 
spoonful of soft butter. When you have worked them well together, 
add a beaten egg, a tablespoonful of sugar and a little salt. Beat 
up well, flour your hands and make into croquettes, rolling each 
over and over on a thickly floured dish. Set aside for some hours in 
a cold place, and fry in hot lard. Drain off every drop of grease in 
a colander, and serve the croquettes on a hot flat dish. 




488 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


CocoANUT Custard. 

Grate a cocoaniit, and set aside, while you heat a quart of milk 
in a farina-kettle (dropping in a tiny bit of soda). Add a cupful of 
sugar, pour the sweetened milk upon six beaten eggs, and leave over 
the fire until just lukewarm. Then season with vanilla, or bitter 
almond, stir in the cocoanut, turn into a buttered pudding-dish, 
and set at once in the oven to bake to a yellow-brown. Eat cold 
with light cakes. 


No. 43. 

BREAKFAST. 

Golden Mush. 

A Winter Hen’s Nest. Graham Biscuit. 

Potatoes au Maitre d''Hotel. 

Fruit. Tea. Coffee. 


Golden Mush. 

Scald a cup of granulated yellow meal with a pint of boiling 
water over night. In the morning put a pint of milk and a cup of 
boiling water, salted, into a farina-kettle, and when it boils, stir in 
the soaked meal. Cook, stirring often, for one hour. Eat with 
sugar and cream. 

A Winter Hen’s Nest. 

Boil eight eggs hard, and throw them into cold water. When 
cool, take off the shells carefully, divide the whites, and extract the 
yolks. Mash them to powder, and mix with twice as much minced 
chicken, turkey, duck, veal, lamb, or ham. Make into egg-shaped 
balls when you have worked a spoonful of butter into the paste. 





WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 


489 


season it, and heap on a hot-water dish. Cut the whites into fine 
shreds, arrange them about the balls to simulate straw, and pour a 
cupful of good gravy, scalding hot, over all. The dish needs no 
other cooking, if there is boiling water under the platter. If not, set 
in the oven for ten minutes. 

Graham Biscuit. 

One pint of Graham flour, and half as much rye ; oue heaping 
tablespoonful of butter, and an even one of lard; two-and-a-half 
cups of lukewarm milk, as fresh as possible; one tablespoonful of 
sugar. 

One teaspoonful of salt, and two teaspoonfuls of Royal baking- 
powder, sifted twice through the flour. Rub butter and lard into the 
salted and sifted flour, stir the sugar into the milk, and wet the flour 
into a soft dough. Handle lightly, roll out with a few strokes into a 
sheet half an inch thick, cut into cakes, prick them, and bake in a 
steady oven. They are good, warm or cold. 


Potatoes au Maitre d ' Hotel . 

Cut cold boiled potatoes into small dice, pepper and salt them, 
heat a cup of milk to a boil, add a great spoonful of butter rolled 
in flour, and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley. When it thickens, 
put in the potatoes, and simmer until they are hot all through ; 
remove from the range, stir in quickly the juice of half a lemon, 
and as much grated lemon-peel as will lie on a silver half-dime. 
Serve hot. 

LUNCHEON. 

How to use the last of “ That Mutton.” 

Cheese Bars. Bread and Butter. Pickles. 

Scalloped Tomatoes. Soft Raisin Gingerbread. 





490 


HOUSE AND HOME. 

How TO Use the East of “That Mutton.” 


Cut every bit from the bone, and mince it rather finely. 
Have ready a cupful of good gravy. You can cut the meat 
from the bones early in the day, crack, and make the broth 
from them if you have no other: If you have half a can of mush¬ 
rooms in the pantry, mince, and add them to the mutton ; also a 
very little onion pickle chopped. Season the gravy highly, and wet 
the mince with it. Put a layer of fine crumbs in a greased pudding- 
dish, pour in the chopped meat, sift more crumbs over it, cover 
closely, and set in the oven until the gravy bubbles up through it. 
Draw to the oven-door, and pour on the surface four or five eggs, 
beaten light, then mixed with three tablespoonfuls of cream. Drop 
minute bits of butter on the egg, with pepper and salt, and shut up 
until the omelette crust is set. Serve at once in the pudding dish. 


Cheese Bars. 

Make these on “ pastry day ” from the pieces leftover from pies. 
Cut strips, three inches long, and two inches wide. Cover the upper 
side thickly with grated cheese, and the merest dust of cayenne, 
fold the pastry lengthwise over this, sift cheese on the top, and bake 
quickly. Eat hot. 

Scalloped Tomatoes. 

Cover the bottom of a buttered pie-plate with fine crumbs, salted 
and peppered; drain the juice from a can of tomatoes, season them 
with butter, salt, pepper, a little sugar, and half a teaspoonful of 
onion, minced very finely. Pour this into the pie-dish, and cover 
with a thick coat of crumbs. Stick dots of butter on this, 
sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover, and bake for half an hour, then 
brown. 




WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 491 

Soft Raisin Gingerbread. 

One cup, each, of sugar, butter, molasses, and sour cream, or 
milk—cream is best; one scant cup of seeded raisins ; one teaspoon- 
fiil of mixed mace and cinnamon; one teaspoonful of ginger; one 
rounded teaspoonful of soda, sifted twice with four full cups of flour; 
two eggs. 

Rub butter and sugar to a cream, then beat in the molasses and 
spice, working it until it is several shades lighter than when you 
began. Add the eggs whipped light, the milk, at last the flour. 
Stir well, put in the raisins dredged thickly, and beat two minutes 
upward. Bake in shallow “ cards ” or in patty-pans. Eat warm 
with cheese. 


DINNER. 

Vegetable Family Soup. 

Scalloped Oysters. Stewed Duck. Glazed Potatoes. 

Canned Peas. 

Suet Pudding. J^Fy Sauce. 

Fruit. Cofiee. 

Vegetable Family Soup. 

Two pounds of lean beef cut into dice ; one onion; one large 
carrot; one turnip; quarter of a cabbage heart; two fair-sized 
potatoes ; one tablespoonful of minced parsley ; two stalks of celery; 
pepper and salt; three quarts of cold water; browned flour. 

Put the beef over the fire in the cold water, and cook slowly 
three hours. An hour before taking it from the fire, prepare the 
vegetables. Shred the cabbage, cut turnips, celery, carrots and 
potatoes into dice; slice the onion, and fry it brown. Cook half 
an hour in boiling salted water, all except the onion. Drain the 


I 




492 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


water off, and throw away. By this time the, meat should be 
tender, but not in shreds. Add the parboiled vegetables and onion 
to it and the broth, put in the parsley; pepper and salt to taste. 
Cook all for twenty minutes, slowdy stir in a great spoonful of 
browned flour wet with cold water, boil up, and pour out. 


Scalloped Oysters. 

Put a layer of cracker-crumbs in the bottom of a buttered pud¬ 
ding-dish, pepper and salt, and cover with raw oysters, season these 
with bits of butter, and a little pepper, and pour on a few spoonfuls 
of milk and oyster liquor ; more crumbs, and more oysters, until 
your dish is full, the top-layer being crumbs, dotted with butter, 
and wet with milk. Do not make the cracker strata too thick ; give 
the oyster honor above the “ scallop; ” bake, covered, until the 
moisture bubbles to the surface, then brown lightly. Serve with 
sliced lemon, bread and butter. 

Stewed Duck. 

Joint neatly, cover the bottom of a saucepan with thin slices of 
salt pork ; pepper, and lay in pieces of duck, another layer of salt 
pork on the top, and cover with sliced onion; fit on a close lid, set 
at the back of the range, and cook slowly until tender. An old 
duck will require four hours, but will be good when conquered. Take 
up the meat, and keep hot. Strain the gravy ; add a little powdered 
sage, parsley, a teaspoonful of currant-jelly and a tablespoonful of 
browned flour. Boil up sharply, and pour over the duck. 


Glazed Potatoes. 

Peel, then boil whole; dry off at the back of the range, lay in 
a dripping-pan, salt, butter liberally, and brown in a quick oven, 
basting with butter, from time to time. 





WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 


493 


Canned Peas. 

Get the best French peas. Empty the can two hours before cook¬ 
ing them, drain off, and throw away the liquid, and lay the peas in 
ice-cold water, slightly salted. When you are ready to cook them, 
put them over the fire in boiling salted water, and boil for fifteen 
minutes. Drain well, butter and season. 


Suet Pudding. 

Three cups of flour; half a cup of powdered suet; two cups of 
sour milk; one rounded teaspoonful of soda, sifted twice with the 
flour; one teaspoonful of salt; half a cup of raisins, seeded and 
chopped. 

Put the flour, sifted with salt and soda, into a bowl; make a 
hole in the middle, and pour in the milk gradually. Lastly, add 
suet and raisins, mixed together and dredged with flour. Boil or 
steam in a buttered mold for three hours. Eat with jelly sauce. 

Jelly Sauce. 

Dilute half a cup of currant jelly with a cup of boiling water; 
stir in two tablespoonfuls of butter, and double the quantity of pow¬ 
dered sugar. Set over the fire, and when it boils, add the juice of 
a lemon, a little nutmeg, and an even teaspoonful of com-starch 
wet with cold water. Boil up again, and set in hot water until 
needed. 

* 

No. 4:4:. 

BREAKFAST. 

Farina. Salt Mackerel with White Sauce. Stewed Potatoes. 

Quick Biscuit. Cold Bread. 

Coffee. 


Butter. 


Tea. 


Fruit. 





494 


HOUSE AND HOME. 
Farina. 


Two cups of milk, and the same of boiling water; four heaping 
tablespoonfuls of farina; half a teaspoonful of salt; a tiny bit of 
soda in the milk. 

Heat the water in a farina kettle, and when it boils, stir in the 
farina wet up with the milk. Cook for twenty minutes, stirring 
and beating faithfully. At the last, put into a clean Dover egg- 
beater and give a dozen whirls before pouring into a deep dish. 
Eat with milk and sugar. 


Salt Mackerel with White Sauce. 

Soak the fish all night in cold water; wash it well with a whisk 
broom to get off salt and loose scales, and lay in boiling water; cook 
gently for twenty-five minutes ; drain, and lift carefully to a hot 
dish. Have ready a cup of boiling milk in which has been stirred 
a tablespoonful of butter rolled in one of flour. Beat into this the 
white of an egg, whipped stiff, boil and stir for one minute, season 
with salt and pepper, and pour over the fish. 


Quick Biscuit. 

Sift a quart of Steven’s Imperoyal Flour into a bowl, rub in a 
heaping tablespoonful of butter—mix up quickly with milk—or 
water*, if more convenient—into a soft dough. Roll out, with few 
and rapid strokes, into a sheet nearly half an inch thick, cut with 
a biscuit cutter into round cakes, and bake in a brisk oven. They 
are exceedingly nice. 




495 


WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 

Stewed Potatoes. 

Heat a cup of milk to scalding ; stir in a tablespoonful of but- 
^ ter cut up in a rounded teaspoonful of com-starcb ; season with salt 
and pepper, and a teaspoonful of minced parsley; boil one minute, 
and drop in cold boiled potatoes, cut into dice. Simmer gently 
until the potatoes are hot all through and serve. A good way of 
using “ left over ” boiled or baked potatoes. 


LUNCHEON. 

Veal and Macaroni Scallop. 

Cheese Fondu. Bread and Butter. 

Baked Sweet Apples and Cake. 


Veal and Macaroni Scallop. 

If you have no cold boiled or baked macaroni left from yesterday’s 
dinner, boil a quarter-pound until tender; drain, and cool it quickly to 
make it the more crisp; cut with a sharp knife into half-inch 
lengths. In another vessel chop about a pound of cold boiled, 
or roast veal; season with pepper, salt, a scant teaspoonful of curry, 
a pinch of lemon peel. Into a buttered bake-dish put a layer of mac¬ 
aroni, sprinkle with pepper and salt, and wet with the milk ; cover 
this with a stratum of the chopped meat, dot with bits of butter, 
and proceed thus until your materials are all used up. When all 
are in, smooth the top layer, which should be of meat; butter well, 
cover with two beaten eggs in which has been mixed a teaspoonful 
of curry wet with cream ; strew profusely with fine crumbs, cover, 
and set in a good oven for fifteen minutes, or until heated through, 
when brown quickly on the upper grating. 




496 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


Cheese Fondu. 

Two cups of sweet milk; three beaten eggs ; a cupful of dry, grated 
cheese; one rounded cup of bread crumbs, very fine and dry; one 
tablespoonful of melted butter ; half a teaspoonful of salt, and half 
as much pepper; bit of soda, the size of a pea, stirred into the milk. 

Set the crumbs to soak in the milk; mix with this, when it is a soft 
paste, the eggs, butter, seasoning, finally, the cheese ; beat hard and 
fast, pour into a buttered pudding-dish, sift fine crnmbs on top, and 
bake in a quick oven until high and delicately browned. Send at 
once to table, as it soon falls and becomes heavy. You may use 
cayenne, instead of black pepper if you like, putting but a third as 
much as you would of black. 

Baked Sweet Apples. 

Peel carefully, and dig out blossom and stem-ends with a sharp- 
knife until the core is reached, but do not extract the seeds. Put 
into a pan, add a cupful of cold water, and bake, closely covered, 
until tender. Drain the liquor through a strainer, and set aside for 
syrup. Pack the apples in a wide-mouthed bowl, or jar with a close 
cover, and keep warm while you add a cupful of sugar to each one of 
apple-liquor and boil fast, wuthout stirring, until it is a good thick 
syrup. Drop in as many whole cloves as you have apples, and pour 
hot over the fruit in the jar. Set away, still covered, for twenty-four 
hours ; turn into a glass dish, and eat with plain cup-cake. If the 
apples are carefully handled in cooking, this will be a handsome, as 
well as palatable sweetmeat. 

DINNER. 

Russian Soup. Salmon Pudding, with Lemon Sauce, 

Roast Rabbits. Potatoes au Milan. Cold Slaw. 

Graham Fruit Pudding. Hard Sauce. Fruit. Coffee.. 




WINTER BILLS OF FARE. 


497 


Russian Soup. 

Make a good clear soup by covering two pounds of lean beef and 
one of veal (all chopped) with three quarts of cold water, and 
slowly boiling it down to half the quantity of liquor. Salt and pep¬ 
per and leave the meat in until cold. Skim off all the fat, strain 
out the meat without pressing it; color with a tablespoonful of 
caramel made by burning two spoonfuls of sugar in a cup, then 
adding as much boiling water. Heat slowly to the boil, and pour 
into the tureen. Lay on the surface six or eight nicely-poached 
eggs, and serve one with each plateful of soup. A glass of wine 
improves the flavor. 

Salmon Pudding with Lemon Sauce. 

One can of salmon ; three eggs ; a scant cup of fine crumbs ; 
three tablespoonfuls of melted butter; salt, and a pinch of cayenne 
pepper; juice of half a lemon and a pinch of grated lemon peel. 

Drain the fish dry (setting aside the liquor) and mince it finely. 
Mix with butter, crumbs, seasoning, and beat in the eggs. Turn 
into a buttered mold with a tight top, and set in a pot of hot water, 
which keep at a fast boil for one hour. The water should not rise 
over the top of the mold. Dip the latter into cold water to loosen 
the contents from the sides and turn out the pudding upon a hot 
platter. The sauce must be ready to pour over it when this is done. 
Mix in a saucepan three tablespoonfuls of butter, the juice of a 
lemon, a pinch of grated peel and the same of powdered mace, with 
pepper and salt. Heat to scalding by setting it in hot water over 
the fire, then pour on two whipped eggs, beating in hard. Pour 
upon the pudding. 

Roasted Rabbits. 

Skin, clean carefully, and fill with a forcemeat of crumbs and fat 
pork chopped very fine, with seasoning to taste. Some insist upon 




498 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


adding minced onion. Sew up the rabbits and cover with thin 
slices of fat pork bound on with pack thread. Roast longer than 
you would fowls of the same weight—say two minutes more for 
each pound. Baste freely, at the last, mingling a little vinegar 
with the dripping. Unbind the strings, remove the crisp pork and 
draw out the thread from the rabbits. Lay the pork around them 
in a hot dish. Thicken the strained gravy with browned flour, boil 
up, and send to table in a boat. 


Potatoes au Milan . 

Whip mealy boiled potatoes to powder with a fork; add enough 
butter and milk to make a creamy paste, the beaten yolks of two 
eggs, pepper and salt. At the last whip in the stiffly-frothed whites. 
Heap on a well-buttered pie-plate, wash over with melted butter, and 
brown lightly on the top grating of a quick oven. Slip a spatula 
under the mound, and lift carefully to a heated platter. ^ 


Cold Slaw. 

Shred a hard white cabbage with a sharp knife (never chop it). 
Put into an ice-bowl just before dinner, and cover with this dress¬ 
ing, stirring and tossing with a silver fork:—Beat the j^olks of three 
raw eggs stiff, adding gradually three tablespoonfuls of oil, and 
when the mixture is thick, a teaspoonful of white sugar, one of salt, 
half as much made mustard, a pinch of cayenne, and four table- 
spoonfuls of vinegar. Mix the dressing in a bowl set in ice or 
snow. 


Graham Fruit Pudding. 

One and a half cups of Graham flour ; two eggs ; half a cup 
of milk ; half a cup of finely chopped suet; a cup of,currants (well 





WINTER BILES OF FARE. 


499 


washed) and seeded raisins, mixed ; half a cup of best molasses ; 
a teaspoonful of cinnamon and mace mixed ; a teaspoonful of salt, 
and a half teaspoonful of soda stirred into the milk. 

Warm molasses, suet and spices slightly together, and stir hard 
until cool; add the beaten eggs, milk, salt, flour, and lastly the 
fruit well dredged with flour ; beat up well, pour into a buttered 
mold and boil or steam for nearly three hours. Turn out and eat 
hot. 


Hard Sauce. 

Four tablespoonfuls of butter; eight of powdered sugar ; 
frothed white of an egg ; nutmeg ; half a glass of wine. 

Cream butter and sugar to feathery lightness ; add wine, spice, 
then the white of the egg, and set in a cold place to harden. 

(End of Menus.) 






The Christmas Dinner. 

I N ornamenting the table, the march of aesthetic taste (or fashion) 
has, without so much as “ by-your-leave,” swept from our fes¬ 
tive boards, and banished to attic and the rubbish-shelves of 
closets, the china and majolica “flower-pieces” which were 
lately our innocent pride. Most practical housewives, especially 
those of moderate incomes, deprecate the innovation of center-cloths 
of linen embroidered with bright silks, or squares and ovals of vel¬ 
vet and plush on which the flower-stand is set. 

Better than this is the simple mode of arranging ferns and blos¬ 
soms in an old-fashioned china bowl, or one that looks as if it had 
come from a great-grandmother’s cupboard, or in a glass dish with¬ 
out feet or stem. 

The flowers should have long and real stalks, and be set in the 
water loosely with due regard to gracefully careless group¬ 
ings. The day of rose-buds, orange-blossoms and japonicas, tied 
with wire and bound into the stumpy formality of brooms, has gone 
by together with the close rows of leafless blooms packed into banks 
and pillows, and crowding straight-sided glass shapes, like the forms 
one sees in an undertaker’s window. 

A low dish of ferns, scarlet geraniums and white carnations, 

eupatoria, or other snowy flower, having for a base a round mirror 

500 




THE CHRISTMAS DINNER. 


501 

upon whicli some stray leaves and blossoms have fallen, as by acci¬ 
dent, is an elegant ornament for a Christmas dinner. 

Evergreens, snch as were wreathed abont pictures, window and 
door frames, are not amenable to the requirements of the occasion, 
being hard and stiff in form and in color too uniform. 

For it should be remembered that Christmas is not like Thanks- 
. giving, a national feast of the season. The emotions that recur 
with its coming belong to the whole world and to all time. To 
crown the day aright in view of the event it commemorates, we 
should bring richer gifts than those which symbolize our gratitude 
for the ingathering of the harvest. If there is but one flower in 
bloom among the house-plants on this glad morning, let it be culled 
to embellish our feast. 

Let raw oysters be an introductory course. Open these an hour 
before they are to be eaten, and set them on the ice. Wash the 
shells, and put them likewise in the ice-box. 

Unless you have oyster-plates with cavities prepared for the 
bivalves, serve them upon these cooled half-shells, and not on a flat 
surface, where they will slide about and leak all over the china. 
Arrange six shells, an oyster within each, on a dessert plate, the 
narrow part of the shells inward, and meeting in the center where a 
quarter of lemon is laid. 

Pass oyster or cream crackers in addition to the squares or strips 
of bread already on the napkins. 

No minor table-fashion is more sensible than the custom of 
keeping pepper in small silver vessels of fanciful shapes, such as 
owls, monkeys, etc., with pierced covers. One of these articles is 
within reach of every hand. 

The disappearance of the clumsy and always remote “ castor” 
is a joy to those who remember the insipidity of viands for which 


502 


HOUSE AND HOAIE. 


salt, vinegar and pepper did not reacH him until the meal was nearly 
concluded. 

Mock-turtle soup comes with grateful piquancy and generous 
richness to the lovers of good living on a mid-winter gala-day when 
there is plenty of time for digestion, and light hearts to aid in the 
assimilation. 

Deviled lobster, made comparatively innocuous by the use of 
cayenne, instead of black pepper, and served attractively in silver 
scallop-shells if you have them—in clam-shells, if you have not— 
follows harmoniously in line. These are eaten with the fork alone, 
as were the oysters. 

Withhold vegetables until the next course—breaded chops 
trimmed a la fra 7 icaise by your butcher. That is, the skin, gristly 
parts and most of the fat are cut away, leaving nearly two inches of 
clean bone at the small end. 

When the chops are done, let the cook wind about this bone a 
piece of white tissue paper four inches long and two wide, fringed 
on the outer edge for more than half the width. 

With the chops send around canned French peas. Open the 
cans two hours at least before cooking, drain off all the liquid, rinse 
the peas in clean water, shake them in a colander, and leave in a 
cold place until they are wanted for cooking. Then set them over 
the fire in boiling water, slightly salted. Drop in a very small lump 
of loaf-sugar and cook them gently twenty minutes. Drain thor¬ 
oughly, stir in a large spoonful of butter, pepper and salt to taste, 
and turn into a hot, deep dish. 

Canned peas thus treated lose the close, smoky flavor that too- 
often spoils them for most people, and taste surprisingly like fresh 
green ones. Baked, scalloped, or stewed tomatoes should attend, 
this course. 


THE CHRISTMAS DINNER. 


503 


A mighty turkey, although altogether au fait at Christmas, is, 
to the minds of some especially punctilious Thanksgiving Day 
keepers, less a “ must-be ” than at the November anniversary. 

Should your culinary conscience or the family appetite demand 
the sacrifice of the Bird of Plenty, garnish him with fried oysters,'' 
carefully crumbed and cooked to a nicety. In helping, put an oys¬ 
ter with each apportionment of meat. Cranberry sauce is always 
passed with roast turkey. 

A haunch or saddle of venison is, however, a noble substitute 
for the provincial piece de resistance. Purchase it a week beforehand, 
hang it in the cold cellar, wash it off every day with vinegar, and on 
Christmas morning with warm, then with cold water. 

Wipe it perfectly dry ; encase in a stiff paste of flour and water, 
and this in two layers of thick white wrapping paper. Fill the 
dripping-pan one-third full of hot water, and baste often with this, 
adding to it from the teakettle should it evaporate too fast. 

Keep the paper from scorching by basting, and you need not fear 
for the meat. Three-quarters of an hour before dinner, take it from 
the pan, strip off the coverings, test with a fork to make sure that it 
is done; return to the even, rub well with butter, and as this is 
absorbed, dredge with flour. Repeat the butter-baste three or four 
times while the meat is browning. This will form a fine “ glaze.” 

For gravy, stir into that in the dripping-pan after the meat is 
dished, a little brown flour for thickening, a teaspoonful of walnut 
catsup, a great spoonful of currant jelly and the juice of half a 
lemon. Garnish the venison with alternate slices of lemon and 
pickled beet-root laid on the edge of the dish. 

For vegetables (which are always passed from the buffet or side 
table), have boiled cauliflower with drawn butter poured over it, and 
potatoes augratin. That is, mound the potatoes, smoothly mashed 
with butter and milk, upon a pie-plate, butter and strew thickly 


504 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


with dry bread-crumbs, then brown lightly in the oven. Slip care¬ 
fully to a heated platter. 

Currant jelly or grape belongs as naturally to venison as does 
cranberry to turkey. 

Chicken-salad, with a mayonnaise-dressing, may come next. 
Sprinkle the top with pickled capers, and garnish around the sides 
with hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters, and white celery tops. 

Next, crackers, cheese and olives, and having lingered a reason¬ 
able time (a phrase of much meaning in this connection) over these, 
give the order for the entrance of the mincE-piES. 

There is no cross-cut to excellence in the manufacture of this 
dainty. Advertisements of, and receipts for “ Mince-meat made 
easy,” are traps for the unwary, the hard-pressed, the lazy. 

Meat should be boiled and chopped, suet crumbed, raisins 
stoned, sultanas and currants washed, citron shred, apples pared and 
minced, sugar and spices weighed and measured, and liquor poured 
out with deliberate thought-taking, and the ingredients compounded 
at least a week before the crust is made, that the mixture may 
ripen and mellow. 

The paste must be the best of the year, the shells be liberally 
filled and the contents criss-crossed with serrated or twisted bands 
of crust. 

When the knife enters the generous bosom of the Christmas- 
pie, the whiff of fragrance escaping from the cut should set every 
pulse a-beating to the lively rhythm of old “ Greenland; ” the 
flower bedight table should become a “ Ceylon’s Isle ” in beauty and 
balminess. 

Everybody, except hopelessly confirmed dyspeptics, should taste 
mince-pie on Christmas day. If properly made, it is far less harm¬ 
ful than dietetic (and vegetarian) pessimists would persuade us 


THE CHRISTMAS DINNER. 


505 


into believing. Grated, or powdered old cheese is a pleasant 
adjunct to it, and to some extent, a corrective of possible evil con¬ 
sequences. 

Ices and jellies cool the system after the highly-seasoned 
pastries, and link the cooked sweets agreeably with fruits an 
naturel. ' 

A pretty fancy-dish is made by filling with amber orange-jelly 
the skins of oranges, emptied and scraped through a small hole cut 
in the blossom-end. 

Insert the finger cautiously to rid the inside of the skin of 
strings and pulp, wash with cold water, and pour in the jelly. 
Leave it to form over-night, and set on ice until the dessert is sent 
in. Cut lengthwise into halves with a knife, and pile on a glass 
dish with orange, or lemon leaves as a setting. 

« 

Light cakes are passed with ices. 

Fruits—bananas, white grapes, oranges and late pears—will 
probably be partaken of sparingly, but must not be omitted. Nor 
should the tiny cup of black coffee, served at table, or sipped later- 
in the library or parlor. 

It is very fashionable to take coffee “ clear,” without cream or 
sugar, but offer both for such as may like to qualify the strength 
of the beverage. It should be very strong and very clear. Well- 
bred people, and sensible ones, do not affect pale or watery decoc¬ 
tions after a hearty dinner. 

Those who do not like coffee, or who fear its effect upon their 
nerves, are at liberty to decline it now. 

All ought to indulge, on this day, in three hours of pleasurable 
inaction—quiet chat, a few pages of a sprightly novel, a dreamy, 
not sleepy loll in a favorite chair—while Nature brings forward the 
forces of a healthy body to make right use of the provisions 
committed to her care. 


5 o6 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


It is not the hearty, post-prandial laugh that helpeth digestion, 
but the gentle, smiling content of a heart at peace with itself and 
full of good-will to men. 


Mince-Pie. 

A standard Christmas-joke is the story of the blunder of a 
French cook who took service on an outward-bound East Indiaman. 
The festival fell while the ship was hundreds of milea from land, 
and, meditating a surprise for homesick English passengers, he 
begged a recipe for plum-pudding from a lady on board. Three 
days of preparation and six hours of execution resulted in some 
gallons of brown porridge, streaked, speckled and spotted, compla¬ 
cently served up in big bowls. His confidante and ally had forgotten 
to mention the pudding-bag—taking it for granted, as do many 
other excellent houswives, that “ everybody knew some things.” 

As pudding, the Gallic cheps exploit was a failure. The product 
of his art, jeered at by those he strove to please, might have 
asserted near kinship with, and greater antiquity than the National 
Noel dish. Walter Scott is an acknowledged authority on gastro- 
nomical archseology. 

“And well our Christian sires of old 
Loved, when the year its course had rolled, 

And brought blithe Christmas back again. 

With all his hospitable train. 

Then was brought in the lusty brawn. 

By old blue-coated serving man ; 

Then the grim boar’s head frowned on high, 

Crested with bays and rosemary. 

The wassail round in good brown bowls. 

Garnished with ribbons, blithely trowls. 

There the huge sirloin reeked ; hard by 
Plum porridge stood and Christmas pie ; 

Nor failed old Scotland to produce 
At such high tide, her savory goose.’’ 



THE CHRISTMAS DINNER. 


507 


The amorphous “ plum porridge ” was, as time grew toward 
ripeness, crystallized into the ultimate texture of a solid by incase¬ 
ment within a stout integument (with “ felled ” seams). At a still- 
later epoch, culinary genius as daring as our Frenchman’s and more 
successful, eliminated the flour from the original formation, knead¬ 
ed it into a concrete, built with it foundation walls and reticulated 
roof, and presented to admiring ages, then and to come— MincE- 
PlE. 

Genealogically considered, it is one remove from plum porridge, 
two removes from plum-pudding, and has no consanguineous con¬ 
nection with Scott’s Christmas Pie. The latter was undoubtedly a 
“ pastry ” of venison and other game. It still holds a place of honor 
in the British cook book. It contains pheasants, partridges and 
woodcock, sweet herbs, lemon-peel, mushrooms, fat bacon, egg- 
yolks, butter, gravy, spices and bay leaves, and is surrounded by a 
raised crust of surprising thickness and solidity. The Puritan 
good woman ventured a timid reminiscence of the ancient and con¬ 
secrate structure in her Thanksgiving chicken-pie. While wiry 
fibres all along the tap-root of memory hold hard to anniversary- 
dishes with love that has no affinity with fleshy appetite, we cannot 
divorce Cookeiy and Sentiment 

Those of us who can buy French rolls and good brown bread; 
who care for, or know so little of cake as to tolerate the square 
inches of frosted indigestion supplied at famine-prices by mercenary 
confectioners ; who are not fastidious as to rancid-butter-pastry and 
ambiguous filling—may shirk baking for fifty-one weeks in the 
year. If Christmas Mince-Pie is to deserve its name and honorable 
estate, it must be made at home. Nay, more, the dogma that no part 
of the process can be slighted without endangering the fair con¬ 
struction as an entirety, must be etched, and the lines well bitten 
in upon the domestic conscience. 


5 o 8 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


At least ten days before tbe World’s Festival, clear decent space 
and wide, for tbe ceremony of mince-meat making. A sort of 
jocund dignity should attend preliminaries and manufacture. Tbe 
kitchen must be clean and set in order; irrelevances and distractions 
of lanndry-work and every-meal cookery must be shoved out of 
sight. The middle distance should be occupied by reserves of 
material. In the foreground, let mistress and assistants seat them¬ 
selves at a spacious table, and, serenely resolute, engage first of all 
the currants. 

“ Never trust hirelings to do the currants ! ” said a stately 
housekeeper to me, confidentially, thirty years ago. “ Four wash¬ 
ings are my rule.” 

In that day, the Lady enunciated her rules with calm pride that 
neared the sublime. My chatelaine checked her’s off with a 
shapely thumb on taper fingers. 

“ First—A rinsing with cold water in a colander to loosen the 
lumpy masses. Second—I rub them between my palms as I would 
soiled laces, in a pan of tepid water. (You would not believe, my 
dear, what this process brings to light.) Third—I drain them in a 
colander, put them back into the pan, cover them with cold water 
and give them another rub. Lastly—I shake them briskly in the 
colander while I pour water on them—plenty of it. After that, I 
spread them on a clean cloth to dry, and pick them over. I assure 
you I have found mummied— bugs —in currants, and once took out 
a teaspoonful of gravel from three pounds of fruit! ” 

Sultana raisins may pass with two washings. They need no 
seeding, but are prodigal of stems, and on this account cannot be 
slurred over. > 

Citron is made flabby by washing. Content yourself with scraping 
it, then slice it into thin shavings with a keen knife, and clip the 
shreds into dice. 


THE CHRISTMAS DINNER. 


509 


Free the large raisins from stems, cut each in half, and take out 
the seed. The business is tedious and sticky. To enliven the task, 
two or three may work together, chatting merrily, or as was the way 
of one ingenious family, one of the group may read aloud while the 
the others are busy. Dickens’ Christmas Chimes and The Cricket 
071 the Hearth^ have always for the ears of my fancy the low ac¬ 
companiment of the “ snip-snap ” of raisin-scissors, the shrill 
sigh of the December wind between the window sashes, the sough 
of the draught under the heated plates of the range, the bubble and 
savoriness of the beef boiling at the back of the fire. This beef 
should be a solid chunk of the round. Cook it as you prepare 
raisins, currants and citron, the day before the ingredients are to be 
compounded into a whole of incomparable deliciousness. 

On the eventful morrow, chop the meat, clear suet of strings 
and membranes, crumb it daintily with cool, deft fingers ; select 
firm, juicy apples—pippins or greenings—pare, slice and mince 
them when everything else is ready. Bare your arms, and mix the 
accumulated riches—from North, East, South and West—in a 
mighty bowl or pan. First, meat, suet and apples, then, the pre¬ 
pared small fruits and citron, sugar and spices, tossing and turning, 
but not bruising or crushing. Finally, add wine and brandy to mel¬ 
low and preserve the incorporate mass. 

I am moved to insert a digressive paragraph here. 

In my own household the place of ardent spirits is in the medi¬ 
cine - chest and among flavoring extracts in the kitchen-closet. 
They are never used as beverages on the table or elsewhere. But 
our eyes are not -yet opened to see death in wine-jelly, or certain 
destruction in brandy-sauce for occasional puddings. I do not hesi¬ 
tate to say that mock-turtle soup is not at its princely best unless a 
glass of wine is added to the contents of the tureen, and to aver yet 
more flatly that I never tasted genuine mince-meat that was not 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


510 

brightened by an infusion of excellent brandy. Not content with 
others’ experiments, I have made up huge batches of it upon so- 
called temperance principles. Like all imitations, they were bur¬ 
lesques and caricatures, and each slice had more dyspepsia in it 
than could be evolved from a whole real Christmas pie. 

Instead of imprisoning the harmful volatiles in a close crust, 
make your pie more wholesome and prettier by laying strips of 
pastr}^ notched with a jagging iron, on the full, brown breast of the 
Mince-Meat. Then let none of the household partake during the 
holidays and year of aught more intoxicating than that which is 
bound up in an obtuse angle of our American Christmas Pie, and 
you will thank, not curse, the humble biographer of this daughter 
of high degree and ancient ancestry. 




Index 




Ambrosia 

PAGE. 

287 

Beets, Young 

PAGE. 

294, 314 

Apples and Bacon 

280 

Biscuit, Egg 

• 253, 353 

Apples, Fried 

408 

Biscuit, Buttermilk 

338 

Apple Meringue 

357 

Biscuit, Deviled 

277 

Apple Pyramid 

391 

Biscuit, Graham 

489 

Apples, Steamed 

457 

Biscuit, Quick 

494 

Apples, Sweet, Baked 

. 477 . 496 

Bisque, Chicken 

307 

Bacon, Breakfast 

373 

Bisque, Fish 

283 

Bananas 

3'9 

Bisque, Fish maigre . 

366 

Bananas, Fried 

269, 306 

Bisque, Salmon 

350 

Bannocks . 

358 

Bisque, Tomato 

297 

Bass, Boiled 

273 

Blanc Mange 

317 

Beans, Baked 

479 

Brains, Calfs . 

462 

Beans, au Maitre d'Hotel 

356 

Bread and Butter (thin) . 

• 328, 451 

Beans, Kidney 

320 

Bread Batter, Southern 

467 

Beans, Fima 

308 

Bread, Brown 

479 

Beans, String 

. 325. 362 

Bread, Brown, Steamed 

249 

Beef Balls 

364 

Bread, Corn 

. 281, 410 

Beef, Braised, 

. 408 

Bread, Corn, Boiled 

. 462 

Beef, Brisket of, a la mode . 

307 

Bread, Risen , 

438 

Beef, Corned, Boiled 

392 

Bread, Corn, Terhune 

334 

Beef, Corned, Hash . 

472 

Bread, Fried 

429 

Beef, Deviled, in batter . 

260 

Brewis 

259, 437 

Beef Hash, au gratin . 

394 

Cabbage, Stewed 

403 

Beef Heart, cold . 

418 

Cafe au Lait 

• 485, 422 

Beef Loaf 

375 

Cake, An Excellent Cup 

452 

Beef, Pot-roast of . 

. • 430 

Cake, Cafe au Lait 

396 

Beef. Roast a POrleans 

330 

Cake, Cocoanut 

336 

Beef Roast, with Yorkshire Pudding 453 

Cakes, Corn 

305 

Beef Sausages . 

369 

Cake, Cornmeal Cup . 

. 292 

Beef Scallop 

406 

Cake, Creamed Sponge . 

454 

Beefsteak and Onions 

314 

Cake, Huckleberry 

329 

Beefsteak, Stewed 

414 

Cake, Jelly Roll 

. 402 

Beefsteak with Sherry sauce . 

251 

Cake, Jelly (warm) 

370 

Beefs Tongue, fresh au gratin 

325 

Cake, Lady 

261 












HOUSE AND HOME. 


512 



PAGE. 


PACK. 

Cake, Layer Cocoanut 

375 

Corn, Stew of, canned 

476 

Cake, Lemon 

362 

Crabs, Deviled 

322 

Cake, Ligkt 

416 

Crackers and Cheese 

312 

Cak«, Marmalade . 

457 

Crackers, Home-made 

. 291 

Cake, Pink and White 

354 

Crackers, Oatmeal 

334 

Cake, Sponge 

. 349. 412 

Crackers, Toasted 

391 

Cakes, Tea 

469 

Cream, Rice 

. 315, 420 

Cake, Walnut 

480 

Cream, Russian 

263 

Cake, White 

289 

Cresses, Water 

254 

Calf’s Head, Baked 

476 

Croquettes, Chicken . 

291 

Cauliflower au gratin 

487 

Croquettes, Hominy 

487 

Cauliflower, Baked 

367 

Croquettes, Lobster 

347 

Cauliflower, Cheese Sauce 

303. 415 

Croquettes, Potato 

298, 372, 367 

Celery au gratin . 

399 

Croquettes, Veal and Ham 

411 

Celery, Fried . 

403 

Crullers 

485 

Celery, Stewed 

459 

Crumpets 

450 

Celery, Stewed Brown , 

372 

Cucumbers, Fried 

348 

Charlotte a la Royale 

336 

Custard, Burnt . 

415 

Charlotte, Apple 

429 

Custard, Cocoanut 

. 320, 448 

Charlotte, Apple, Baked . 

440 

Custard, Corn Starch . 

326 

Charlotte, Myrtle’s 

427 

Custard, Sponge Cake 

482 

Cheese Bars 

490 

Dinner-Pail, The 

383. 388 

Cheese Fingers 

406 

Dinner, The Christmas 

. 500, 509 

Chestnuts, Boiled . 

440 

Dinner, The Thanksgiving 

443 , 448 

Chicken, Boiled, on Rice 

459 

Dodgers, Cornmeal 

259 

Chicken, Broiled, Deviled 

, 3‘53 

Doughnuts 

. 406 

Chicken, Broiling, Fricasseed 

366 

Ducks, Potted 

335 

Chicken, Brown Fricassee of 

351 

Ducks, Stewed 

492 

Chicken, Curried 

319 

Dumplings, Apple, Baked 

466 

Chicken Fricassee Cachtf . 

297 

Eels, Stewed, a la Francaise 

327 

Chicken, Fried, Whole 

346 

Eels, Stewed 

483 

Chicken, Larded . 

303 

Eggs, Baked 

. 468 

Chicken Legs, Mince of 

328 

Eggs, Boiled 

374 

Chicken Steamed, Stuffed 

4S1 

Eggs, Creamed 

455 

Chocolate 

250 

Eggs, Curried 

295 

Chocolate, Frothed 

328 

Eggs, Deviled 

386 

Chowder, Clam 

458 

Eggs, Fricasseed 

449 

Chowder, Cod 

475 

Eggs in Toast Cups 

285 

Chowder, Lakewood . 

345 

Eggs, Maringued 

. 266 

Chowder, Lobster . 

376 

Egg Sauce 

268 

Clams, Steamed 

306 

Eggs, Scalloped 

369 

Cocoa-theta 

• 267, 475 

Eggs, Scrambled 

305 

Cod and Macaroni 

371 

Eggs, Stewed 

. 400 

Cod, Boiled 

268 

Egg-Plant, Stuffed 

336 

Cod, Glazed 

302 

Fish Balls . ; 

481 

Coffee, Meringued 

348 

Fish, Blue, Broiled 

435 

Cookies 

464 

Fish Cake, Baked 

304 

Corn, Stewed 

308 

Fish, Rechauffe of 

311 









INDEX. 

513 


PAGE. 


P.AGB 

Fish, White, Fried 

325 

Liver, a la Jardiniere 

371 

Flounders, Cutlets, Baked 

397 

Liver and Bacon 

316 

Flapjacks . 

255 

Liver, Brown Stew of 

300 

Fondu, Cheese 

496 

Liver, Fried 

435 

Fondu, Chicken or Veal . 

478 

Liver, Larded 

262 

Fowl Roast h. la Guyot . . 

341 

Liver, Ragout of 

254 

Fritters, Brain 

478 

Lobster, Buttered . 

430 

Fritters, Clam . 

438 

Lobster, Creamed 

414 

Fritters, Corn 

354 

Lobster, Curried . 

333 

Fritters, Oyster-Plant. 

481 

Lobster, Stewed 

390 

Fritters, Sponge Cake 

CO 

Macaroni, Spaghetti, Baked 

269 

Fruit .... 

279. 394 

Macaroni, Stewed 

258 

Galantine . 

271 

Mackerel, Fresh . 

270 

Gems, Egg 

30 <’. 390 

Mackerel, Salt with White Sauce 

494 

Gems 

CO 

Mayonnaise Dressing 

474 

Gingerbread, Oatmeal 

474 

Melons .... 

343 

Gingerbread, Prudence’s, without Eggs 266 

Milk, Thickened . 

424 

Gingerbread, Soft 

302, 434 

Muffins, Aunt Chloe’s. 

290 

Gingerbread, Soft Raisin . 

491 

Muffins, Bread and Milk . 

348 

Gingerbread, Warm . 

360 

Muffins, Brown. 

456 

Griddle Cakes, Barbara’s . 

395 

Muffins, Corn Meal 

316 

Griddle Cakes, Corn . 

364 

Muffins, English 

472 

Griddle Cakes, Crumb 

422 

Muffins, Mamma’s 

342 

Griddle Cakes, Farina 

270 

Muffins, Raised, without eggs 

369 

Griddle Caks, Flannel, without 

Eggs 405 

Muffins, Rice 

265 

Griddle Caks, Oatmeal 

478 

Muffins, Risen . 

400, 462 

Gruel, Farina . 

358 

Muffins, Rye 

332 

Gruel, Oatmeal 

255 

Mush, Fried 

455 

Haggis, Dundee 

420 

Mush, Golden 

488 

Halibut, Baked 

486 

Mutton and Macaroni 

419 

Halibut, Steaks 

465 

Mutton Chops 

389 

Halibut, Stuffed 

318 

Mutton Chops, Baked 

268 

Ham and Eggs, Mince of 

321 

Mutton Chops, Stewed 

361 

Ham, Barbecued . 

456 

Mutton, How to Use the Last of That 490 

Ham, Deviled . 

439 

Mutton, Leg of. Larded . 

257 

Ham,-Fried in Batter 

, 363 

Mutton, Leg of, with Caper Sauce 

268 

Hen’s Nest, Winter A . 

488 

Mutton, Ragout of 

487 

Herrings, Scotch . 

417 

Omelette, Baked with Herbs 

317 

Hominy, Boiled with Milk 

455 

Omelette, Codfish . 

467 

Hominy, Coarse 

247 

Omelette, Oyster 

309 

Ice Cream, Banana 

331 

Omelette, Roe 

249 

Ice Cream, Crushed Strawberry 

. 289 

Omelette, Sweet A 

323 

Ice Cream, Peach 

362 

Omelettes, Tom Thumb . 

332 

Jelly, Coffee. 

. 460 

Onions, Bermudas, Stuffed 

298 

Junket .... 

334 

Onions, Creamed . 

392 

Kidneys and Ham . 

405 

Onions, Young 

274 

Kidneys, Deviled 

342 

Oranges 

421 

Lemonade . 

350 

Oranges and Sugar 

297 



HOUSE AND HOME. 


514 




PAGR. 


PAGE. 

Oysters au gratin 


356 

Potatoes a la Parisienne . 

353 

Oysters, Deviled 


407 

Potatoes and Corn, Minced 

401 

Oysters in Bed 


396 

Potatoes au Geneve 

326 

Oysters on Toast . 


451 

Potatoes au maitre d'hotel . 

489 

Oyster-plant, Faied 


398 

Potatoes au Milan 

498 

Oyster-plant, Stewed 


466 

Potatoes, Baked. 

300, 395, 457 

Oysters, Scalloped 


492 

Potato Balls 

484 

Oysters, Scalloped, with Mushrooms 

401 

Potatoes, Browned 

260,363 

Pan-cakes, (sugared) . 


428 

Potatoes, Buttered • 

332 

Parsnips, Fried.... 


408 

Potato Cakes au gratin 

423 

Pat^s de veau .... 


339 

Potatoes, Chopped 

338, 359 . 433 

Pat6s, Lobster. 


329 

Potatoes, Dressed 

. 282 

Peaches and Whipped Cream 


347 

Potato, drop cakes of 

417 

Peas, Canned .... 


493 

Potatoes, Fried 

265 

Peas, Green. 


258 

Potato Fritters 

346 

Pea Pancakes .... 


431 

Potatoes, Glazed 

492 

Pickerel, Baked .... 


361 

Potatoes, Hashed 

418 

Pie, Curried Chicken 


403 

Potatoes, Hashed, Browned 

. 261 

Pie, Sweet Potato 


404 

Potato Hillocks 

376 

Pie, Veal and Ham 


435 

Potatoes in Cases . 

415 

Pigeons Stewed .... 


356 

Potato loaves . 

468 

Pigs’ Feet, Breaded 


248 

Potatoes, Lyonnaise 

. 411 

Pigs’ Feet, Fried 


396 

Potatoes, Minced 

272 

Pike, Larded 


470 

Potatoes, Mold of . 

477 

Pine-Apple, Sliced, with Wine . 


326 

Potatoes, Mont Blanc 

454 

Plague of Flies 

378, 

CO 

Potatoes, New 

330 

Pop-overs. 

277, 285 

Potato-Puff 

439 . 466 

Pork chops, (wuth tomato sauce) 


421 

Potato Rolls 

247 

Porridge, Arrowroot 


352 

Potatoes, Saratoga 

391 

Porridge, Browned Rice 


449 

Potatoes, Savory . 

327 

Porridge, English Oatmeal 


368 

Potato Souffle 

431. 471 

Porridge, Farina 


494 

Potatoes, Stewed . 

249. 310, 495 

Porridge, Graham 


264 

Potatoes, Stewed Whole 

473 

Porridge, Graham Flakes . 


280 

Potatoes, Sweet, au gratin 

436 

Porridge, Green Corn 


342 

Potatoes, Sweet, Baked 

412 

Porridge, Hominy 


461 

Potatoes, Sweet, Browned 

308 

Porridge, Imperial Granum 253, 

275. 

400 

Potatoes, Sweet, Fried 

370 

Porridge, Milk. 


299 

Potatoes, Sweet, Stewed 

438 

Porridge, Milk, and Rice . 


290 

Preserves, Mock East India . 

463 

Porridge, Molded 


337 

Pudding, Amber . 

431 

Porridge, Mush and Milk 

309. 427 

Pudding, Batter 

308, 393 

Porridge, Mush-milk . 


331 

Pudding, Belle’s Bright Thought 274 

Porridge, Oatmeal . 


409 

Pudding, Boiled Indian 

422, 477 

Porridge, Oatmeal (cold) 


315 

Pudding, Canned Corn 

263 

Porridge, Rice 


483 

Pudding, Corn Starch, Hasty 

282 

Porridge, Rye . 


404 

Pudding, Cup, Plum 

409 

Porridge, Wheat Germ Meal 

253. 

275 

Pudding, Fatima’s 

303 

Potatoes A la Napolitaine 


335 

Pudding, Graham Fruit . 

49 * 





INDEX. 


515 


Pudding, Graziella 


PAGE. 

284 

Salmon, Smoked, Broiled 

PAGE. 

301 

Pudding, Hedgehog 


372 

Sandwiches, Bacon and Mutton . 

386 

Pudding, Huckleberry 


352 

Sandwiches, Cheese and Egg 

385 

Pudding, Indian Meal 


377 

Sandwiches, Chicken 

339 

Pudding, Italian, Rice 


428 

Sandwiches, Cracker and Anchovy 

386 

Pudding, Marie’s . 


399 

Sandwiches, Ham 

385 

Pudding, Marmalade . 


279 

Sandwiches, Sardine . 

385 

Pudding, Orange . 


269 

Sardines on Toast . 

375 

Pudding, Peach 


367 

Sauce, Apple . 

412 

Puddings, Queen of 


341 

Sauce, Brandy 

466 

Pudding, Rice and Peach 


436 

Sauce, Cranberry 

426 

Pudding, Suet 


493 

Sauce, Hard 

499 

Pudding, Suet and Sago 


252 

Sauce, Hasty Pudding 

282 

Rabbits, Deviled . 


410 

Sauce, Jelly 

493 

Rabbits, Roasted 


497 

Sauce, Liquid . 

399 

Radishes 


256 

Sauce, Neapolitaine 

253 

Rarebit, Ham . 


354 

Sauce, Peach . 

368 

Rarebit, Welsh 


266 

Sauce, Tomato 

429 

Rarebit, Welsh (cold) . 


323 

Sausages 

427 

Rice and Brains 


286 

Sausages, Home-made 

433 

pi e and Tomato 


284 

Scalloped Cabbage 

426 

>, Boiled 


319 

Scalloped Codfish, with Cheese 

337 

\ Pilau of . 


296 

Scalloped Codfish, with Mushrooms 

343 

)es 

,_y-poley. Baked 


359 

Scalloped Cod, Salmon or Halibut 

261 


471 

Scalloped Corn and Tomato . 

357 

-vOlls, French 


322 

Scalloped Pish 

276 

Rusk .... 

312, 360 

Scalloped Potato 

349 

Rhsk, Dried, and Milk 


344 

Scallops, Breaded . 

416 

Salad, Cabbage with Boiled Dressing 

317 

Scallops, Clam. 

255 

Salad, Celery and Sardine 


433 

Scallops, Fried 

340 

Salad, Chicken . 


386 

Scones, Oatmeal 

301 

Salad, Cress 


272 

Scones, White 

432 

Salad, Cucumber 


359 

Sea-Kale 

453 

Salad, Egg and Sardine Mayon 

naise 

351 

Shad au gratin 

290 

Salad, Lettuce . 

292, 460 

Shad, Baked 

251 

Salad, Lobster, Cream Mayonnaise 

288 

Shad, Baked, with Wine Sauce. 

257 

Salad, Oyster . 


425 

Shad, Broiled . 

275 

Salad, Potato 

• 365, 485 

Shad, Fried, with sauce Piquante 

313 

Salad, Raw Tomato 


344 

Short Cake, Melissa’s . 

276 

Salad, Shrimp 

• 328, 473 

Short Cake, Peach 

417 

Salad, Shrimp and Cheese 


336 

Short Cake, Strawberry 

258 

Salad, String Bean 

. 

306 

Snipe, Mock 

295 

Salad, Sweetbread 


301 

Soup, Asparagus’ 

272 

Salad, Tomato 

. 

339 

Soup, Baked 

355 

Salad, Tomato and Lettuce . 


287 

Soup, Barley 

430 

Sain on an Janot . 

• 

423 

Soup, Beef and Sago 

371 

Salmon Fingers 


281 

Soup, Black Bean 

313 

Salmon Pudding, with Lemon Sauce 

497 

Soup, Brown Potato 

256 







5i6 


HOUSE AND HOME. 


PAGE.* 


Soup, Calf’s Head 

464 

Soup, Calf’s Feet with Poached Eggs 335 

Soup, Canned Pea 

318 

Soup, Catfish 

. 262 

Soup, Chicken and Sago 

419 

Soup, Clam. 

288 

Soup, Clear 

413 

Soup, Corn . 

267 

Soup, Cream 

302 

Soup, Curry Rice . 

361 

Soup, Farina , 

486 

Soup, Giblet 

452 

Soup, Green Pea 

340 

Soup, Lima Bean . 

. 402 

Soup, Mock Turtle 

324 

Soup, Mulligatawny 

277 

Soup, Potato . 

. 480 

Soup, Potato, puree 

469 

Soup, pur^e maigre 

250 

Soup, Rabbit . 

424, 440 

Soup, Russian 

497 

Soup, Tomato . 

329 

Soup, Turnip, maigre 

407 

Soup, Turnip 

392 

Soup, Turnip pur^e (without Meat) 397 

Soup, Vegetable 

434 

Soup, Vegetable, Family . 

491 

Soup, White 

293 

Spinach, aunaturel 

252 

Spinach, on Toast 

314, 408, 419 

Squash, Scalloped 

• 435. 482 

Squash, Stewed 

426 

Squash, Summer . 

347 

Strawberries 

255, 286 

Succotash, . 

278 

Sweetbreads, Ragout of 

349 


PAGE. 

Sweetbreads, Roast . . 283 

Sweetbreads, Roast, with Peas 273 

Tea, Iced . . . 323 

Terrapin, Imitation . . 278 

Toast, anchovy with Egg Sauce . 484 

Toast, and Rice, Curry of . 441 

Toast, Bread . . . 300 

Toast, Buttered . . . 248 

Toast, Cream . . . 457 

Toast, Eemon Cream . . 365 

Toast, Scalloped . . 490 

Toast, Tomato . . . 311 

Tomatoes and Corn . . 393 

Tomatoes, Deviled . . 396 

Tomatoes, Scalloped . . 463 

Tomatoes, Stewed . 263, 377,471 

Tomatoes, Stuffed . . 351 

Tongue, Beef’s, . 465 

Tongue, Beefs, Browned . 441 

Tongue, Earded . . . . 398 


Tongue, Deviled 
Tongue, Jellied 
Tongues, Lambs’, Pickled 
Tongues, Sheeps’, Stewed 
Trifle, Chocolate 
Trifle, Strawberry 


Tripe, Fried . . . 264,468 

Turkey, Steamed . . . 425 

Turnips, Creamed . . 470 

Turnips, with White Sauce . 342 

Veal and Ham Cutlets . 470 

Veal and Macaroni, Scalloped . 495 

Veal Braised . . . 376 

Waffles .... 310, 374 
Waffles, Farina . . 327 

Waffles, Rice . . . 364 


THE END. 



















































